Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is a strong advocate of the screening programme. When raising this issue, she always has been. However, a charge were made in this House by the leader of Fianna Fáil on an occasion when Members knew I was not here to respond. The charge was that I offered free repeat smear tests to women against official advice. That is false. That decision was made in conjunction with my officials, including the Chief Medical Officer, and it was supported by Opposition politicians, including those present, because women wanted that reassurance. Many women took up that opportunity to have reassurance. These were not the only women getting the reassurance. In addition, there were also new women, who had never availed of the programme, taking up screening which we all believe is good.

I accept that has caused a backlog, which cannot be easily fixed merely by resources. If it could, I guarantee it would be done. There is an issue in trying to identify more capacity in what is already a shortage of cytology. The HSE is due to complete a capacity report in the next couple of weeks on how we can look at addressing this and I will act on that immediately.

It is not true for Members to state in this House that the repeat smear test was offered against official advice. That was not the case. Of course, some doctors had views on this matter. Many others welcomed it. Many GPs also wanted to know what were they to do when women were coming to them looking for that reassurance and whether they were to charge them when they had done nothing wrong.

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