Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the opportunity to express sympathy and to talk about the issue later.

Last Thursday, at a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts, three memorandums, dating from March and July 2016, revealed that the CervicalCheck management team, the leadership of the HSE, the acute hospitals division of the Department of Health and the Chief Medical Officer had all shared and discussed memorandums related to the CervicalCheck cancer screening audit, as well as decisions on communicating with treating clinicians and not directly with the women concerned.

What was noticeable in these memorandums was the absence of prioritisation of the needs of the women in question and their families and communicating with them, particularly the families of women who had died from cervical cancer. They reveal a mindset focused on managing the risk to the programme and potential negative repercussions, rather than the needs of the women and their families who are simply not prioritised. They also reveal a policy of containment and concealment.

The Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, has stated he became aware of the Vicky Phelan case on 16 April last via a memorandum. I regret saying this but there has been an absence of political leadership in the Department since then. I cannot understand why the Minister did not summon people to his Department there and then and tell them he wanted all documentation pertaining to this issue produced within 48 hours, after which he would make it public. That did not happen and, as a result, the Minister and Government have been apparently caught unawares by the revelations of the Committee of Public Accounts. This reflects a lack of strong leadership and management of the issue in the Department.

Emma Mhic Mhathúna's public interviews, particularly her interview on "The Late Late Show" last Friday, and interviews with members of other families caught up in this terrible scandal have captured the hearts of Irish people. People are saddened, angry and, in some instances, confused about the entire scandal. They require political leadership on this issue.

The statement by the Department on Health on Thursday night leaves many questions unanswered. We need clarity and I understand further documentation will be published and released today.

I have some basic questions to put to the Taoiseach in order that we can get some answers on the record. Did the chief medical officer or personnel in the acute hospitals division ever discuss these issues with the Secretary General of the Department, the Taoiseach when he was Minister for Health or the current Minister for Health? Did the chief medical officer or personnel in the acute hospitals division ever bring the issue of the audit and communicating the audit to the attention of the management committee of the Department of Health by way of discussion or by alerting people to the issue during management meetings in the presence of the Minister or Secretary General? Was the Taoiseach, in his time as Minister for Health, or the current Minister for Health ever briefed by the CervicalCheck management team on the progress of the screening programme? If such meetings or briefings occurred, were any issues ever raised with the Taoiseach concerning the laboratories or the testing regime or were any other concerns raised?

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