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

I want to say again how distraught I am, and the country is, that so many women have had to endure the uncertainty and worry that have accompanied the CervicalCheck controversy, on which the Government has focused significantly in recent weeks and months. This has been a difficult issue to deal with. Like the women concerned, Deputy McDonald and everyone else, we did not have all the facts at the outset and we still do not have all the facts. As we seek to deal with this matter, we are often having to change our response on a weekly basis because of the emergence of new facts and new information. We set up the serious incident management team to go into CervicalCheck. It was asked to put things in order and make sure records were provided to women and their solicitors as soon as possible. We established the scoping inquiry and agreed the terms of reference with the Opposition. That scoping inquiry is now under way. Dr. Scally has already produced his first report, in which he recommended that better information be provided to women when they are going for smear tests in order that they understand the limitations of those tests. A consent form which recognises that has already been done. We expect further interim reports from Dr. Scally along the way, as soon as he is ready to give them to us. He has said he is now content and satisfied with the information he is receiving from State authorities and the format in which it is being received. We have asked him to contact the Minister for Health directly if he has any further difficulties. As the inquiry is independent, it would be wrong for me to direct Dr. Scally to end it at a particular point. We should allow him to carry out his independent inquiry as the whole point of an independent inquiry is that the Government does not interfere with it. This inquiry is entirely independent. Dr. Scally has told us he anticipates that he will have completed the report by the end of the summer. We have already agreed that we will proceed to a commission of inquiry in September. We know it will not be possible to answer all questions as a result of the scoping inquiry.

The agreement of the Irish Medical Organisation is in place to give women who are concerned about previous smear tests the option of having repeat smear tests free of charge. Many women have taken up that option. I think it was right to offer this option. A team from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Britain, with expert input from the British Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, has been appointed to review past smears. This team has started its work. It might not yet be examining slides but it is doing its preliminary work and terms of reference have been agreed. We thought its work could be done much more quickly but the experts in the field are telling us it will take longer. It will take up to four months. We have put in place a comprehensive package of health and social care measures. For example, over 400 medical cards have already been issued. If Deputies know about individual cases in which people are having difficulties accessing the €2,000 payment, they should pass on the details of those cases to me or to the Minister, Deputy Harris, and we will look into them. According to the information we are getting from the HSE, difficulties are not being encountered. We understand that many of those payments have been issued. In some cases, there have been difficulties with getting people's bank details etc. I ask Deputies to provide details of individual cases, if they have them, in order that we can follow them up. It is true that it is not possible to claim for retrospective expenses. Expenses can be claimed for going forward. The issue of retrospective expenses will be dealt with in the individual settlements when the individual cases are sorted. As we have said, mediation is on offer in all cases. We cannot stop people going to court. Everyone has the right to go to court if he or she wants to and believes it is in his or her best interests. Mediation is being offered in all cases. A number of cases have been settled by mediation.

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