Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Before asking my question, I take this opportunity to encourage women to use the CervicalCheck cancer screening service. CervicalCheck saves many lives every year. On 11 November, I asked the Minister for Health how many legal cases have been issued to date in respect of CervicalCheck. He replied that there had been 164 cases as of that date. That is an incredibly high figure. Each of those cases represents a woman with cancer and a family forced to fight for justice in an adversarial court system. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the same question two weeks later and was told that there were 231 cases as of 25 November. Again, that is a shockingly high figure given the fact that the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, promised the Dáil that no woman with cancer would have to go through the courts again. The Tánaiste promised that a tribunal would bring this to an end. However, that promise has not been fulfilled. Either the Department made a mistake regarding these figures or, in the two weeks between those questions being asked, almost 70 women initiated legal cases against the State in the context of CervicalCheck. This is an incredible figure and, if it is correct, it represents a massive indictment of the Government.

Patricia Carrick died in November. God rest her. The High Court found, in the context of the case she took, that in 2016 her smear test was read in a manner which was neglectful. Patricia was diagnosed with cancer in 2019, a year after the scandal relating to this matter first broke. I raised her case in the Dáil. Since then, I received a letter from CervicalCheck that was critical of my contribution. I took a meeting with the clinical director of CervicalCheck to try to thrash out these issues and better understand the situation. I was shocked by what was stated at that meeting. During the course of my engagement with it, CervicalCheck made its position clear. It disagrees with the decisions of the Supreme Court, with the initial apology of the Government and with the payment of compensation to many of these women. These are extraordinary statements in the context of a crisis that has gone on for years and with which many individuals have had such difficulty.

CervicalCheck is an arm of the State. The Government and the Supreme Court are also arms of the State. How can so many organs of the State be in direct contradiction of each other? Does this not put lives in danger?

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