Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to pay a special tribute to Emma Mhic Mhathúna, who tragically passed away in October and who did so much to expose the cover-up which was undertaken by the State and its agencies. I hope Emma's five brave sons are today safely in the care of their family. This is my first opportunity to pay my personal tribute to Emma in this Chamber. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dílis.

I would also like to commend the ongoing work of Vicky Phelan, Stephen Teap and others who continue their ardent work pressuring Government to stand over its promises and commitments that such a scandal will never happen again and that appropriate measures will be put in place to support all women who have found themselves caught up in the scandal. It is, however, most disappointing that the measures referred to earlier have not been put in place. There is still not an effective process in place to manage the fallout from this scandal. Quest laboratories, one of the companies implicated in the scandal, is still conducting smear tests outside the recommended 30-day limit. Most worryingly, this time is counted from the time the smear arrives at the lab, not even from the time at which it was taken. The backlog caused by the need for retesting required additional facilities to be put in place and this has not happened. I argued fervently in 2007 and 2008 that the cancer screening programme in this country should never have been outsourced and privatised in the first place. It was grievously irresponsible, at best, for Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats back then not to listen, not to look into the facts, not to properly inform themselves. We could have expanded the capacity of laboratories here in Ireland. Very sadly, privatisation took precedence over public services and wholly misinformed, lame-duck economics ruled the day. Look now at the real cost of those decisions.

Ruth Morrissey is currently in the High Court taking a case against the HSE and two laboratories over alleged misreading of her cervical smear tests. There is now a question mark over whether the slide attributed to Ms Morrissey was hers at all. This is outrageous. This woman is extremely ill and she is being forced through a legal process despite the Government and the Minister saying that would not happen.

The judge in this case said that it is getting stranger and stranger.

I appeal to the Minister not to put this woman through further uncompassionate and unnecessary stress and strain. He should do the right thing and take this woman out of court and meet his obligations to her. This scandal has been a very sorry episode in the contemporary story of this State's relationship with women. I encourage all women to continue with the screening process. I acknowledge that there will continue to be problems, but the best and safest way of reducing the risks of getting cervical cancer is by undertaking the screening process in the first place. This is the case with all screening programmes. I encourage all members of the public to adhere to best clinical practice in line with the advice given to them by their GPs and other clinicians.

The Government has to reach out, on behalf of the people, to all of the affected women. No woman should be forced to go through the courts on this matter, and I urge the Minister to take the appropriate steps to ensure that this does not continue and that it will not occur in the future.

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