Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I accept Deputy Kelly's invitation to visit CervicalCheck in Limerick. We are entering a frantic number of weeks with regard to legislation, but at the earliest possible opportunity I will visit there. It would be extremely beneficial. I also want to thank the people who have been working on the front line. I believe they have been working extraordinary hours in recent weeks and months to try to get on top of this. I heard Deputy Kelly acknowledge this earlier at the Committee of Public Accounts meeting.

I thank Deputy Kelly for raising this issue and giving me an opportunity to update the House and answer some of the questions he put to me directly. For the record of the House, on Tuesday I published two interim reports prepared by Dr. Scally outlining the work he has carried out so far as part of his scoping inquiry to date. One report is a progress update and the other is a first report addressing point D of the terms of reference on information for women about screening. This is a very important area of work. There are nine other areas, but I know we agree rebuilding confidence in the screening programme is very important with regard to what women are told when they go to the screening programme about consent and open disclosure.

I welcome Dr. Scally's recommendations, as I know the Irish Cancer Society does. I have heard a number of women and next of kin who have been impacted by the audits welcome it also. I have accepted all six recommendations in full. I also welcome his approach to the work. I welcome the fact Dr. Scally seems absolutely to have the confidence not just of people in this House but of the families with whom he is interacting. I have heard some very positive feedback from them and from some patient advocacy groups in terms of how he is going about his work. I thank Deputy Kelly for acknowledging this.

Deputy Kelly is right that Dr. Scally has requested he be allowed to continue his work until the end of the summer. He said to me quite honestly that he could, in theory, rush his report but he did not believe it would do justice to the issue and that he would like to work his way through the summer months. This reflects the need to engage with more women and families affected and also to go through the sheer volume of documentation that he has received. Importantly, he has not said by any manner or means that he is off until the end of the summer, good night and good luck. He has said he will continue to provide discrete reports as they are completed so we can get on with implementing some of the practical changes. I would like to see something on governance, on which he is working within the terms of reference, and something on the laboratories and the review of contracts. I welcome the fact that today the HSE confirmed he will get access to those contracts very quickly. This is vital.

I want to be crystal clear on the record of the House that there is no ambiguity about this. There will be a commission of inquiry. There will be a statutory inquiry. I am committed to establishing one. I brought a memo to the Government to establish one. Let us be honest, I have to acknowledge that when I first came into the House it was my original intention to set up a HIQA inquiry. Deputy Kelly pointed out the limitations of this and advocated very strongly. We worked on a cross-party basis. There will be a commission of inquiry. I believe, as do most people in the House, that there is value in Dr. Scally answering as many of those terms of references as he possibly can over the summer period so we do not have to put a huge body of work into a commission that could go on for far too long.

I want to stress that Dr. Scally is very committed to the work. It is important we give him the time he has requested to complete his inquiry in a comprehensive manner. He has asked that that be until the end of the summer. It should be acknowledged that Dr. Scally was only requested to provide an update on progress at this stage but he went further than that in providing one other report. One of the recommendations made was on an ex gratiapayment, which obviously we accepted in full. I want to say on the record, in case of any confusion, this is not instead of compensation, redress or support packages. It is an additional support and its sole purpose is to ensure there are no financial obstacles to any woman or her family participating fully in the inquiry.

Deputy Kelly knows that the recalling of the Dáil and when the Dáil sits is not a matter for me, but if Deputy Kelly is asking me whether I want to see the commission of inquiry established in September and whether I want to work with Members of the House to make it happen the answer is that I do. I will work and engage, as I believe I have shown to date I would like to do, with the Opposition on what exactly we should put into the commission of investigation.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will indeed go to Limerick and talk to the CervicalCheck team, and I will thank them for the work they are doing. I just read in the news headlines as I came down the good news that Vicky Phelan received today, which I welcome and I am sure Deputy Kelly does also.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is appropriate that Deputy Kelly and I acknowledge this, along with everyone in the House, because we would not be here if it were not for the work she did.

Deputy Kelly's concerned about time creep is genuine, and it is a good way of putting the idea that this could slip on and on. We need to get the answer. The idea of the scoping inquiry is to get the answer. I am very satisfied that Dr. Gabriel Scally will get a lot of good answers. This is a man who, as Deputy Kelly rightly acknowledged, has a very impressive CV and track record. He calls it as he sees it and we saw that this week. He does not take any messing around from anyone.

With regard to the issue of documents and information, I could not have been clearer with him and, in fairness, he said this publicly. I took the opportunity to phone him again yesterday to tell him if he encountered any blockage from anyone in getting any information or any records to tell me directly. He said he appreciated that and he would be back to me if it arose. I have legal powers to request documentation from the HSE and make it available to others. I do not believe I will need to use them because everyone has said they will co-operate, but I will stop at nothing to make sure he gets the information that he requires.

I also want to pick up the point Deputy Kelly made, quite rightly, and it was raised at the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts today, on the number of cases being likely to increase. It is important that as audits are carried out and completed they are disclosed to women. Had that happened in the first place we would not have the awful mess in which women have found themselves, where information about their own health care was concealed.

Auditing is good but not disclosing audit results is the problem. I expect, as the audits are completed, that the women will be first to be notified. It will not be this House or the media but rather the women who will be informed about their medical records. Dr. Scally will be kept informed in this regard.

I am absolutely committed to setting up a commission of inquiry in September and working with the Opposition to ensure that is as effective as possible. I thank Dr. Scally for his superb work and I look forward to more of his recommendations.