Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My office contacted Vicky Phelan to offer a meeting with her. Ms Phelan has agreed to meet me at a date that is convenient for her. She is in regular contact, however, with the Minister, Deputy Harris.

Our priority and focus remains on getting to the truth of what happened through the Scally inquiry, ensuring that women who have been affected are contacted and engaged, rebuilding confidence in the life-saving CervicalCheck screening programme and carrying out individual case reviews of all 209 women who formed part of the audit to assess their smear tests and determine the impact that the alternative reading had on their diagnosis and treatment.

The Government has agreed a comprehensive package of health and social care measures to assist the 209 women, and their families, who have been diagnosed with cervical cancer and whose audit result differed from their original smear test.

The Government has also announced that the State Claims Agency is advancing a new initiative aimed at expediting resolution of the outstanding legal cases in a sensitive manner utilising mediation wherever possible and wherever agreed.

The impact on these women and their families of the failure of disclosure, transparency and sharing of information has been devastating, and has added to the distress and huge difficulty they are already experiencing as a result of their cancer diagnosis. The package of supports cannot undo the hurt caused, but will at least ensure that their health and social care needs will be met. Women and families will be offered support through counselling and practical assistance with costs such as childcare and travel and also access to clinical trials and experimental medicines.

The National Cancer Screening Service is writing to the 209 women, or their next of kin, apologising for failures in relation to disclosure and setting out the actions being taken to deal with the issues identified.

The Minister, Deputy Harris, has also asked the HSE to introduce human papilloma virus, HPV, testing as the primary screening method for prevention of cervical cancer as soon as possible. Like all screening tests it is a screening test, it will not be individually diagnostic and it will produce false negatives and false positives. It is, however, more accurate than the current test and we will be one of the first countries in the world to introduce it.

The Government has also agreed to the proposal of the Minister, Deputy Harris, to establish an independent board for the HSE to strengthen the management, governance and accountability of the organisation. The general scheme of the Bill has been published. The board, with strong competencies across key areas, will be accountable to the Minister for the performance of its functions.

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