Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

When the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, offered free CervicalCheck screening, after the CervicalCheck scandal broke, 4,088 women received inaccurate test results or experienced delays in the issuing of letters as the result of an IT glitch at Quest Diagnostics. This week, three years and three months after the recommendation was made by the MacCraith report, the HSE has confirmed to RTÉ that conversations are ongoing with a small number of women as part of this continuing care. What does this mean? I have asked the Tánaiste and he said the Minister will come back to me but the Minister has never come back to me on this. What does "a small number" mean? Does this small number of women have cancer? Do any of these patients have a terminal illness? Has there been open disclosure in each of these cases? Have any of the delays in speaking to them affected their ability to treat their cancer or their survival chances? It is extraordinary that three and a half years after that recommendation of the MacCraith report, none of this information was forthcoming until we in Aontú raised it last week. Can we have the details today?

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