Dáil debates

Tuesday, 19 November 2019

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

2:35 pm

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have not received it and it has not gone to the Government. We will not receive it until each of the women has had an opportunity to hear the results for herself. After that, it will be published, but only at that point. Of course, a briefing will be made available for Deputies.

I sincerely hope that, given that this is the second audit and is different from the previous audit, we will all handle the matter better this time, and I count myself among those who need to handle it better this time. When we say it is not 100% or perfect, that does not fully explain a screening programme. For every 100 healthy women who are screened - not just for cervical screening but for other programmes, too - in approximately 12 cases, anomalies will be picked up and can be followed up, while approximately eight will be missed. If looked at it again, those eight cases might be picked up. We expect to see a high level of discordance and of false negatives. It should not be a surprise or shock at this stage for anyone following the issue that there are hundreds of cases of discordance, because there will be. That is not at all the same as negligence or a flawed programme.

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