Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In April, the country was shocked and appalled by the revelations made by Vicky Phelan about her cervical smear test and how she had to go to the High Court to fight for justice, even though she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Vicky agreed to waive her right to privacy and also refused to sign a confidentiality clause, as she wanted other women to be made fully aware of her experiences. We then heard the heart-rending radio interview given by Emma Mhic Mhathúna, a young mother of four from Kerry who had also been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Both of these women, and many hundreds of others, were unaware that an audit had taken place which showed that they had false negatives. Some 209 women who were diagnosed with cervical cancer were not told about subsequent audits showing that previous smear tests could have brought about a different outcome. The Government committed to introducing mandatory disclosure in 2015, and it has indeed been HSE policy since 2013. Yet it was exposed at the Committee of Public Accounts that CervicalCheck, the HSE and the Department of Health were informed and the audit results were knowingly withheld from the women affected.

As we know, the head of CervicalCheck immediately resigned her post and the CEO of the HSE left. It was and still is a national scandal. It has been an intense and emotional few weeks for the women and their families. It still continues. Even this morning at the Committee of Public Accounts, CervicalCheck and the HSE had to apologise to members and to the State Claims Agency for giving them incorrect information to the effect that all women affected had been told. The fact that Dr. Gabriel Scally, who was appointed by this Dáil to carry out the scoping inquiry on 8 May, has not been given all the information he requires to do what the Government and the Dáil asked him to do is absolutely outrageous. I agree with Dr. Scally when he says himself that it is unacceptable.

He has rightly said that he will not be stonewalled. Yet there are agencies of this State willing to drag their feet, put up obstructions and continue to behave in an inexcusable defensive manner to the Government, the Dáil and most importantly the women involved, on the basis that they believe their actions are defensible. These women, who want to get their records to examine exactly what happened, unfortunately do not have the luxury of time. The scoping inquiry was to be completed at the end of June. It has now been delayed until approximately the end of summer. I know that the Government wants the scoping inquiry completed as soon as possible, but now it looks as though that will not happen. In the scoping inquiry, information is being denied and delayed unacceptably for various administrative, medical, legal and other reasons.

Does the Minister believe it is acceptable that it has taken a full month to send documents to the scoping inquiry, and that these documents were not sent in an accessible form to the inquiry team, particularly when a deadline of the end of June was set? Does the Minister accept that the scoping inquiry is being buried under a mountain of paperwork and that the women affected deserve better? Finally, does he not agree that at this stage it would be more prudent to set up a commission of inquiry now, so that information can be sought rather than dragged from the agencies involved and so that a resolution can be found sooner rather than later?

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