Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday afternoon I raised the cervical cancer issue in this House and yesterday evening, the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, informed the Dáil that there were over 1,500 more women with cervical cancer whose cases had not to date been audited. This means there are 1,500 women with cervical cancer who may or may not have had a false negative smear test result through the CervicalCheck programme before their diagnosis of cervical cancer. It means that these women may or may not have benefited from a different and-or earlier treatment of their condition.

As of today, we do not know if this audit has commenced or been completed, nor do we know why the Minister did not send in the serious incident management team to investigate the matter when he initially discovered that there was a huge issue on 16 April via the memorandum he received. Evidently, the Government has had no idea at all what is going on in the Department of Health and is sleepwalking around this crisis with nobody in control and no-one with any knowledge of what is going on. The literal drip-feeding of the information to us via the Minister for Health in the Dáil and via the Department of Health is shameful and it is a deplorable way to treat Irish women.

I commend Vicky Phelan's bravery and composure in pursuing this matter and the bravery of her family. Like her, I find the fact that nobody in the HSE was aware of this matter before 16 April incredible. The further discovery of 1,500 women yet to be audited is mind-blowing and deeply upsetting. Was it the case that this information should have been obvious, given the statistics available on the cancer registry? Last night on "Prime Time", Vicky Phelan said that she was disappointed and disheartened by the revelation but that she was not surprised. She added that there was no-one leading this and the news is changing on a daily basis. No-one can disagree with her comments. This is the same "Prime Time" programme on which Ministers were invited to appear but refused to do so. They were nowhere to be seen yesterday.