Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to close today's statements by sincerely thanking the women and family members who are here with us in the Gallery, those who are watching proceedings nearby and those who are watching from afar. I have met many of you over the past year and a half and come to know some of you very well. Others I may know less well but I hold their personal stories and experiences with me each and every day. These experiences they have shared with us have been incredibly impactful and there is no doubt but that they have led us to this moment where the Taoiseach has apologised on behalf of our State. I acknowledge that today is an important day but a very difficult day. I acknowledge that such an apology cannot undo all that has happened, certainly not, but something that really stayed with me from the Scally report was his finding that many women and families wanted someone who was involved to say sorry and to mean it. I hope all those affected, whether they are here in the Oireachtas or watching from home, can finish this day in no doubt that the State apology offered to them is genuine. I hope it brings some healing, which I know is rightly so important to them and the 221+ representative group. It is one thing to stand here and apologise for others, it is easy for me to apologise for others. I want to personally apologise to the women affected as well. I apologise for the times that I gave commitments that were heartfelt and genuine and were harder to follow through on. I apologise for the times we have had to come into this House and give partial information because that was all we had available and for the hurt that caused. I personally apologise. The words of Deputy Catherine Murphy are honest and raw and challenging, in that we need to learn lessons from this as well. I certainly commit to doing that.

It is said we do not heal in isolation but in community. These women have provided a community of support to one another through all of this and in this moment, today in Dáil Éireann, their country, their State, joins with them. We have come to learn a lot about the reality of cervical cancer and the devastation it wreaks on women and their families. We came to know women and men who became household names, though that was never their desire. They gave up their privacy and let us into intimate details of their lives in order that their experiences would become ours; women who have survived but whose bodies, psyche, self-image and future will never be the same again. When I think back on those late April days of last year, when all that we have been discussing this afternoon was still unfolding, I remember making a decision to contact Vicky Phelan, who is here with us today, directly. That would be the first chat of many we would go on to have but it was indeed the most important conversation I have had in all of this. Vicky's words that day were typical of her determination and generosity of spirit when she said to me, "Simon, I just want some good to come out of this." Those words not only stayed with me but guided me from then on. There are many things we wish had not happened throughout this crisis but there is one outcome we can never regret. We now have a national goal of effectively eradicating this horrific cancer. We can move towards a future where as few women as possible experience the awful reality of a cervical cancer diagnosis.

We know how to do this. We can achieve this through an effective HPV vaccination programme combined with a well-organised screening programme. This year, as others have said, we extended the HPV vaccination programme to boys as well as girls. I think of Laura Brennan this afternoon as well. This is a significant step towards protecting the future health of our children from the most serious consequences of HPV infection. Our efforts to increase vaccination uptake rates will continue to intensify. We will keep pushing back against the misinformation because this is a vaccine that saves lives and we will build on the improvements we have seen in recent years. Work is progressing well on the introduction of HPV primary screening during the first quarter of next year. I join others who say we must collaboratively and collectively to make this happen. This is the culmination of a lot of hard work and will make Ireland one of the first countries to introduce this method of testing. We are investing in the Coombe to develop our own national cervical screening laboratory so we never again will be so reliant on other people's laboratories and, in line with Dr. Scally's recommendation, we have established our first ever national screening committee. We are not just saying sorry. We are implementing every single one of Dr. Scally's recommendations. All of us are involved. There is no disunity on that. We have re-established the women's health task force. We have put patient advocates on the HSE board and we have told Dr. Scally not to just do his report and go away but to hold our feet to the fire and make sure we deliver this and he is doing a superb job in that regard.

I wish to acknowledge the intense work of many people across the health service who are working hard to make this a reality. I too want to emphasise, as I know our patient advocates do, the substantial contribution of the CervicalCheck staff and the work they have done to contribute to women's health over the ten years of the programme. We must do everything we can to ensure that we have a cervical screening programme that women can trust. I acknowledge the active contribution that so many are making, particularly Stephen Teap and Lorraine Walsh, to the work under way in my Department and the HSE in that regard. Today is a difficult day but it is also a significant one. It is the day we formally say sorry but it is also the day we say collectively we can, we must and we will do better. Some good must come from this. The CervicalCheck crisis has left a very painful mark on very many but we must ensure that it leaves a legacy. Our legacy to the next generation does not stop at making sure the mistakes made here are not repeated. Our legacy is a country that protects our people from this awful disease. I reiterate my apology, my support for the Taoiseach's words and my sincere thanks to the women and families who are here with us today. I promise them that I will continue to work to achieve the goals that I know we in this House and beyond, across the Oireachtas, share to eradicate this horrific disease and to stand by the women who have been affected.

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