Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday on Leaders' Questions, I put it to the Minister for Education and Skills that central to building confidence in our health system must be the need for information, clarity and accountability. The Government has repeatedly pledged in the wake of the CervicalCheck scandal that this would be forthcoming. The Taoiseach said there would be a package of supports available to the women affected and to their families. He also said last week that pending court cases would be dealt with through mediation.

However, we understand that more cases are to be lodged this week. During yesterday's sitting of the Committee of Public Accounts, the solicitor for Vicky Phelan, Cian O’Carroll, spoke of two women who do not have time on their hands and have difficulty accessing their own medical records.

In an incident last Friday he described how, when the legal representatives made arrangements to collect documents that they were assured would be available at the CervicalCheck headquarters in Limerick, they were told on arrival that the documentation would not be made available and they were escorted off the premises. This was done in the presence of the programme manager for CervicalCheck, Mr. John Gleeson. That is hardly in keeping with the approach outlined by Government, is it? Stephen Teap told the Committee of Public Accounts that no support services were provided to him or his children at this point. Again, this is out of step with what has been promised by Government.

It would seem that what has come from Government is more about being seen to take action and get control of the situation rather than delivering substantive action. What the Government needs to do is take control of this issue. Those in government are not commentators. They are in charge and they need to act like it. The cervical cancer audit, which has been available since 2014, still has not been published despite assurances given last week that it would. Information in respect of the US laboratory detection rates that was promised to the Joint Committee on Health two weeks ago still has not been published. Why the delay? Why the wait? Is Government not lifting the telephone and demanding that these records be put into the public domain? Will the Government do that? Will the Government ensure that it is published today? This is not a new request. This documentation has been promised.

I want to return to the issue I raised yesterday because it was not answered by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton. It relates to when the then Minister for Health, and now Taoiseach, promised to introduce mandatory disclosure, but he decided not to proceed on the advice of the chief medical officer, Dr. Tony Holohan. It was the wrong advice and the wrong decision. The chief medical officer was informed of the CervicalCheck scandal around the same time as this advice was given to the Taoiseach. A reasonable question is whether that advice and the information provided at the time to the then Minister for Health was informed as a result of the CervicalCheck scandal or indeed any other scandal. Will the Government publish that advice today? Will the Government publish the advice that the then Minister for Health got at the time as well as the advice the Government got to ensure that, late last year, it withdrew from the legislation that was going through these Houses the provisions for mandatory disclosure?

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