Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask about the implementation of the Sláintecare report. In the Joint Committee on Health this morning and as reported on the front of The Times, Ireland edition the president of the Academy of Clinical Science and Laboratory Medicine has said that cost was the main reason the testing of cervical smears was outsourced to American labs. It gives an insight into how the Government was not only trying to provide services on the cheap, but also how the services here had been run down and nobbled in their attempt to tender for the contracts. She said the Irish labs as part of the cost of their tender had to include pension costs on top of service costs, for example. It was said at the committee that the American labs, being aware of discussions in 2008 to outsource, had offered prices as a loss leader, basically to win the contract and put themselves in the driving seat. Will the Government commit to providing funding for the development and growth of Irish labs to hire and train properly qualified staff so that these services can be brought inhouse and not outsourced to the lowest bidder?

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