Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is. I am telling the Tánaiste what I believe. I am also saying that, as Stephen Teap said, it is unacceptable to the 18 bereaved families. We need certainty here. Those families who have incurred costs and who have already been failed by the State, need a clear statement that the date of 11 May no longer applies. They need to be told that they can submit their claims for expenses and that those expenses will be paid by the State. A different message was given to the victims of this scandal by the Taoiseach.

I am trying to give the Deputy an update on the position but more importantly, I am trying to give a clear message to those outside of this House who are listening closely because they and their families have been affected by the CervicalCheck scandal.

There is nothing cold or callous about the Government's approach. We are looking to try to support families and individuals in a generous and supportive way. That is why we have put case officers in place to try to provide the supports that are needed in a personal way, on the basis of individual cases. I have of course heard Stephen's story. It is a very tragic one for him and for his family and there are many others like that. However, we have to ensure that we propose a way of responding to expenses that were incurred prior to May of this year in a way that can apply to everybody, not just to those who have the paperwork necessary to make a claim and so on. What is needed here is a detailed discussion between the HSE, the Department of Health and Stephen Teap and others who represent the families involved on the steering group, in order that we can put an appropriate support package in place to deal with expenses that have incurred both in recent months and before that as well.

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