Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister will know Sinn Féin has no issue with the amendments to the Bill, but we have an issue with the process and the absence of a statutory duty of candour. The Bill also fails to specify or provide powers to the Minister to prescribe how the review will be conducted. It is similar to self-regulation. How can we do something in this Chamber and have it looking like self-regulation? It is just not right. The bottom line is that we are not giving people the right to information unless they seek it, and that is very unfair. We should have the right to automatically get this information.

The Government is forgetting that patients are at the heart of this. We must protect the viability of the screening services; we understand that. Approximately 250,000 CervicalCheck screenings will be carried out this year and that has to be welcomed, but it must be a process that is safe and people must get their information. A specialist who provides counselling support for women affected by the CervicalCheck scandal has stated, "I see a state that pays lip service to acknowledge its mistakes and yet the systematic failures are blocking and resistant to change causing ongoing heartache, a trauma without a bottom line that keeps adding to the suffering of women I met."

Deputy Shortall said earlier that there is a lack of forward planning and I totally agree with her. Women must have trust and they do not currently have that. It is up to us as legislators to make sure they get that trust. All Members of the House will continue to say they want to work with the Minister on this, but we have to work in a proper fashion. I also agree with what Deputy O'Reilly said about slides. We should not have them sent to another country. It is a confidence issue. We should be allowed to have slides examined in this country. I was a patient of the gynaecology department in the Coombe hospital and without it I would not be here. The trust of women in the hospital and gynaecologists they attend is vital. I firmly believe we must continue to do this in such a fashion.

I also listen to people talk about the pressure people are under as patients and women. Not only that, but their families are under severe pressure as well. When a loved one is very sick, people are not sure how they will get the results, where the results will go to or what their rights are, so they too are under pressure. They are under pressure when their loved one needs them most. It is very difficult to give a loved one what they need when people are under such severe pressure. That needs to be addressed.

How can we get this right when it so rushed? If the Minister does not get it right this time, he will not get it right at all. The Bill should not be rushed. The Minister needs to get it right and this issue must be addressed.

See this speech in context