Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, the funeral cortège of Emma Mhic Mhathúna passed Leinster House. It was a very emotional afternoon. A very pointed message was being sent by Emma. It was not directed at any particular person but at the people inside who they wanted to do something. What can the people in here do? We can investigate the actual cause of the death of Emma and 20 other women and ensure that unavoidable mistakes never happen again. Following Emma's death, her solicitor, Mr. Cian O'Carroll, said on an RTÉ radio programme that he is dumbstruck as to the reason the HSE and the Government are hell bent on avoiding the laboratory issue. He said that when the issue is raised with the Minister, Deputy Harris, and the Government, they focus on non-disclosure. Non-disclosure did not kill Emma. Emma died owing to failures in a laboratory in 2010 and 2013, as he said.

It is inexcusable that today, following her death, there is still not a clear and determined statement from the State saying that it will investigate why those slides along with so many hundreds of others were critically misread in the laboratories in the USA and Ireland. He also made the point that the 221 errors have not been properly investigated. They are not being looked at, and neither are the actual laboratories. The laboratory that misdiagnosed Emma and many others is still being used. I want to read a section from a report from Quest Diagnostics to the Tánaiste. It reads:

- We generated double-digit revenue growth in our near-patient - or "point-of-care" - - testing business.

- We continued to reduce our cost structure and improve our efficiency.

- We opened our lab in India.

As my colleague, the former Deputy Joe Higgins, said ten years ago, they could be producing cement for all that could be judged from statements like that. Is it not the reality that the Government's lack of interest in focusing on the labs is because political parties in this Dáil took a decision that cost would be the overriding criterion in deciding on the testing service?

Dr. Scally made the point yesterday that he did not give the labs the clean bill of health that the Minister has been so determined to suggest. He also made the point that a whole host of women could also be affected because the HSE and CervicalCheck took a decision to limit it to within an 18 month range. Dr. Scally and his investigators made the point there was not a clear and unambiguous international accreditation awarded to the labs. Why is it that a decision was taken that cost would be the fundamental criterion for the testing service and is it not the case that the Government decided to do medicine on the cheap and that many women are now paying the price?

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