Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

On Tuesday the House debated with the Minister for Health and Children for two hours. In that time many Members expressed their concerns about the state of the health services, with a particular focus on cancer services. Unfortunately since then, two more women who believed they had the all-clear from Portlaoise Hospital have been diagnosed with breast cancer. This a personal tragedy for them.

Given the clinical excellence of the doctor appointed to review the cases, no woman should have any concerns. However, she has been placed in an invidious position, having been on the interview board for the doctor at Portlaoise Hospital and now conducting the inquiry into the same doctor's diagnoses. This is an arrangement the Government should have avoided.

The Leader must ask the Department of Health and Children how women who have had mammograms outside the BreastCheck service, which has an excellent record, can continue to have confidence in services provided by private and public hospitals. Given the devastating results from Portlaoise, is the same review going to be necessary? Dr. Naughton wrote two years ago to the Department on the matter. It then sent on his correspondence to the Health Service Executive but yet there has been this scandal in Portlaoise.

Although the House debated health services for two hours on Tuesday, two more women who attended Portlaoise Hospital have been confirmed with breast cancer. Women's confidence in hospital services must be at an all-time low. I remind the Leader in the past ten years two Fianna Fáil Ministers, Deputies Martin and Cowen, and the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, have run the health services at a time of unprecedented national wealth. This must be the largest disappointment to patients — the consumers.

What other questions arise about services, especially given the ten-year delay in the roll-out of breast cancer screening? It was promised for every part of the country many years ago but it is still not widely available. Our problems continue in this area of the health service, which is a disgrace. It is an ongoing issue despite our wealth and investment in the sector. Members on all sides will agree that it will need ongoing scrutiny from the Seanad over the coming months.

Yesterday, an extraordinary situation emerged in the UK where the private details of 25 million citizens were lost in the UK post. The Data Protection Commissioner, Mr. Billy Hawkes, spoke yesterday of similar data risks in Ireland and how we need to be careful on how private data are held. He said what happened in the UK was a wake-up call for the Irish authorities.

In recent weeks, several Members have raised the matter of leaks from the Department of Social and Family Affairs where private data on individuals held by the Department were passed on to insurance companies and others. It would be appropriate for the Leader to bring this to the Government's attention. It would also be worthwhile for the Data Protection Commissioner to attend an Oireachtas committee to outline what is lacking in Government policy in data protection and the managing of sensitive data which it holds on citizens.