Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister for Health is aware, we have been around the houses on this today, in the Committee of Public Accounts and on Leaders' Questions. The hearing of the Committee of Public Accounts was extraordinary for the lack of information that the acting chief executive of the HSE has on this issue. He has met Dr. Scally only once. Also, the programme manager of CervicalCheck has never met him or spoken to him. While what Dr. Scally has said about the provision of information is accurate, the head of the programme offered him a facility through the HSE for direct electronic access to all the information he required. The head of the HSE did not know that today until I pointed it out to him, even though he was sitting beside him. He complimented him on putting it forward, even though I had to go through the management system.

My issue is that I sat down with the Minister and negotiated in good faith on several occasions. Through its spokespeople, the Dáil decided to go forward with this scoping inquiry, which I now regret because I think we should have voted on it. My concern is that this scoping inquiry has drifted into becoming something different. The Dáil also decided the timeline. The date of completion was the end of June. Now the Government has decided to push that back to the end of August. I want a guarantee from the Minister that this will not drift beyond the end of August, and that he will call back the Dáil so we can set up the commission of investigation. The latter point is not for debate, despite Dr. Scally saying numerous times in interviews that he would decide whether one was needed.

Will the Minister give this House a guarantee that this will happen? I am concerned that this will continue to creep. I do knot know if Dr. Scally will be able to complete the work, as he feels it is constituted, by the end of August. I understood that he was to have quick facts, that he would ascertain the key requirements for the terms of reference, and that then we would set up the commission of investigation. That was his role as I understood it. I commend him as a person. His CV is excellent. However, this has gone way too far.

I do not believe we will get the quick information we require for the families of the women who have died and for all of the women who are in very difficult health situations currently who need answers quickly. If the Government, as opposed to the Dáil, has decided that this will go to August I want it absolutely guaranteed that it will be concluded by August, because the commission of investigation cannot commence until the Dáil is sitting. The Minister will have to bring back the Dáil on 1 September, or a date close to it, for the investigation to commence. This is not what was agreed. I am willing to give its completion the benefit of the doubt, if that is what the Minister advocates, however, that date must be locked down. I want all ten terms of reference fully completed by that date. I also want to see a complete change in attitude from the HSE on information provision and how Dr. Scally gets access to people and information for this. The Minister has a role to play in this. I request specifically that the Minister actually meets the people in CervicalCheck in Limerick. They have asked me to ask him to do so to get a full picture of what is going on.

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