Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter again as I know she raised it with the Taoiseach last week. I was present when she did so. I have received a note from the Minister for Health, who I know is probably anxious to respond to the Deputy on the matter. Maybe I can ask him to speak to the Deputy afterwards.

The HSE is focused on responding to all requests for records as soon as possible. To aid this process, external legal advisers are liaising with women and their solicitors on the release of slides. The protocol in place ensures the integrity and traceability of slides being transferred. Under the protocol, solicitors are required to provide specific information about a chosen laboratory before slides can be released. This ensures the integrity of the slide is protected and that all slides can be traced when they leave a current location. Where any delays arise, the cases are being escalated as a priority.

My understanding is representatives of the HSE attended meetings of both the Joint Committee on Health yesterday and the Committee of Public Accounts last week to answer specific questions from Deputies on this. They provided average waiting times and talked through how the process works. I do not have information on individual cases but I assure the Deputy that the Department of Health, the HSE and the Government want to ensure we treat families as quickly as possible while protecting the integrity of the process. This is to ensure families, loved ones and women can get access to their own slides and medical records as quickly as possible without any undue delay.

As the Deputy will be aware, there will also be a report from Mr. Justice Meehan on alternative mechanisms to avoid adversarial court proceedings for women and their families affected by CervicalCheck issues. That report will come back to the Government. We do not any woman or family to have to go to court to access slides that they should be entitled to access quickly and without any undue delay. We want to focus on the procedures being put in place to ensure that happens.

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