Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Danny Healy-Rae. Although the tribunal was established as an alternative to bringing a compensation claim to court, to date very few claims have been submitted to the tribunal. On 22 March 2021, no claims had been made to the tribunal. On 30 June 2021, the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, stated that five claims had been received. In contrast, to date 199 legal proceedings relating to the CervicalCheck issue have been issued, of which 195 are claims received since 1 January 2018 and 170 relate to the alleged misreading of a smear test of a service user. The 221+ patients support group provides support and advice to women and families directly affected by CervicalCheck failures and it has been critical of some of the processes of the tribunal. For example, the group has proposed that a non-adversarial route be found for the tribunal, one that does not oblige the women and families affected by these incidences of cancer misdiagnosis to fight the multinational laboratories. This approach was rejected by Government. In October 2020, the group stated that it was seeking further engagement for change in the tribunal, as previously requested, or it would recommend that members not engage. I would urge the Government to get this sorted. We have had enough cock-ups on this issue. This is people's lives Government is dealing with. Women and their families have suffered enough.

Many of the Government slots for contributions on this issue have been passed over because none of the Deputies has the guts to stand here before the people in regard to the shocking way Government has treated women's health in terms of this issue. It is easy to understand why they are embarrassed and they have turned their backs on coming here to, maybe, issue an apology. This is an appalling attack on a woman's basic right to know the results of a test. These results, which are a life and death issue for many women, were withheld and nobody has been held accountable. That is the astonishing thing in all of this.

We heard Deputies speak about the Chief Medical Officer at the time, Dr. Holohan, saying that there were no patient concerns. He made many other statements at that time. I want to know from the Minister who was held accountable for this absolute shocking situation whereby women were left without test results that could have helped to save their lives. There are great people in this country, such as Vicky Phelan, who are fighting for their lives and to be with their families, but also fighting to show other people what a great fight they can put up in regard to the awful things that were done to them. In my time here, I have yet to see someone from this Government or the previous Government stand up and say, "We got this terribly wrong, but heads did roll." I think most of the people that were involved in this scandal down through the years have been promoted and given extra pay when instead heads should have rolled and we should have had accountability. People want accountability. The word "sorry" is a small word, but it seems, for politicians, it is a difficult word to say. In my time as a Member of this House I will do everything I can to help smooth out the road for people who are going through such a horrific ordeal in their lives and have had terrible wrongs done to them. We must make sure that wrong is never repeated in this country. The only way that can happen is if we have accountability for those who committed the wrongs and who continue the cover up, which is what it was. That cover-up has led to a lot of suffering for families in this country. It is unfortunate that no matter what advice Government gets on this issue it continues to make people suffer.

As I said earlier, the 221+ group proposed that a non-adversarial route be found for the tribunal, one not obliging the women and the families affected by these incidences of cancer misdiagnosis to fight the multinational laboratories but this approach was rejected by Government, leading to the continued suffering of these women.

It is not good enough for there to be error after error and for their suffering to continue. That must be stopped immediately.

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