Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party, I strongly support and welcome the apology by the Government for what women and their families were put through as a result of the cervical cancer screening scandal. The incredible and avoidable stress that they and their families have had to endure, as well as too many serious delays in treatment, have quite rightly been a major concern for the Irish people since the first details of this scandal emerged. I wish to share my speaking time with Deputy Donnelly.

It took a very brave and determined woman, together with her family, to go to the High Court before the scandal was actually acknowledged and it has taken a series of damning independent reports before the full details were revealed. The facts of this scandal and the failings it exposed have posed a direct and urgent challenge to a vital part of our health system and those who oversee it. However, our first duty today must be to honour the fight of those affected in order to obtain information, accountability and, above all, change. They fought for themselves, but they also fought for the women of today and the years ahead who need a screening service and a system which they can trust at one of their most vulnerable moments. This scandal has touched on many important issues relating to the oversight of our health services and, more fundamentally, how the rights of individuals can be too often ignored in the design, delivery and oversight of women's health services.

Screening services are one of the greatest advances of modern medicine. The ability to identify diseases in time for early and more effective treatment is now a fundamental part of helping people to live longer and healthier lives. In this case, the introduction of national screening for cervical cancer directly targeted one of the diseases most responsible for the early deaths of women. Let us never forget that this service has saved thousands of lives. No screening or diagnostic service in the world is without error. However, every patient who uses such a service has the right to know that everything possible has been done to reduce potential error and that they will be quickly and fully informed when those errors are spotted.

As the High Court heard and as the Scally and MacCraith reports showed in detail, hundreds of women were badly let down on these fundamental points. Since the system believed in the value of its work and because of a failure to put the patients' interests at the centre of every decision, vital information was withheld, appalling errors were made and it took immense legal, public and political pressure for action to be taken. As the reports demonstrated, there was an aversion to open and full disclosure. Multiple examples were exposed of what Professor MacCraith described as women being frustrated in their search for results and clarifying information. They were given incorrect information, often after another serious delay and for many, the information they were given was still inaccurate. The paternalistic approach of deciding what women could be allowed to know about their own health was demonstrated at important moments, with vital results often only supplied to doctors with no intention to inform the women involved.

The reports also pointed to the central lack of proper corporate governance within the HSE. The replacement of the HSE's independent board by a system that directly reported into the Minister's office was an enormous error by the Government and underpinned a culture where there was no one focusing on general oversight. Dr. Scally particularly pointed to the need to restore this essential governance layer and for the voices of patients to be included at this level. The Government's decision to reverse its abolition of the HSE board is welcome and we hope it will become the driving force for reform, which is so badly needed.

The series of recommendations made in the Scally and MacCraith reports are detailed and there appears to have been progress in important areas. However, the history of the handling of this scandal and of other scandals in recent years means nothing can be taken for granted and pressure must be maintained so the reports are implemented in full. Errors were clearly made in that response and lessons will have to be learned.

I would like to remind the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, that in the full spirit of this apology, we need to bear in mind the sense of grievance one whistleblower, Ms Sharon Butler Hughes, still has about how she was treated. She feels her integrity was wrongly impugned. She did some important work for the public good and service. I ask the Minister please to meet Sharon Butler Hughes without precondition-----

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