Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

While the Tánaiste's apology is welcome, there is not much evidence that this is actually a priority. Anybody could have predicted that there would be an upsurge in the uptake of smear tests because women were concerned. I thought it would have been very easy to predict that but, instead, a promise was made and a commitment given, and that was broken. I put the question again to the Tánaiste. Will he commit to an information publicity campaign advising women of the realistic timeframe they can expect?

I will not personalise this but there are women who are waiting, and they are justifiably anxious. They need to know when they will get their results. At the heart of the CervicalCheck scandal was the fact that information was withheld from women. Dr. Gabriel Scally found there was a paternalistic attitude on the part of some people in the HSE. Withholding information from women is what was wrong. Being honest and up-front with them is what is required. If the delays are going to continue and if the plans were not made, the Tánaiste should be honest and come out and tell women publicly the length of time they can expect to wait before they get a repeat test and a result.

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