Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be as brief as possible. To return to the question of open disclosure, it is clear that the lack of disclosure and the way disclosure eventually took place had a major impact on the affected women and families. Their experience is reflected eloquently in their own words, which are threaded through Dr. Scally's report. The Scally report underlines that disclosure is not just about legislation and procedures, but also about culture, as many speakers acknowledged, and core values such as openness, honesty, trust and confidence in doctors. The vast majority of doctors and the medical profession in general hold these values very dear in the care they provide. The dedication and commitment of the entire range of health professionals, including doctors, are among the key assets of our healthcare system. While, understandably, patients and society generally can ask questions arising from Dr. Scally's findings, questions that can only be answered effectively by the medical profession itself. The Minister has said he looks forward to seeing constructive engagement on these issues from the medical profession. The chief medical officer has commenced engagement with the leadership of the medical profession on these issues and I know the Minister intends to meet it as well.

I emphasise again that Dr. Scally has found no reason the contracts with the current laboratories should not be extended to cover the period until primary HPV screening is introduced. This provides reassurance to women that they can continue to attend for screening. I thank those Members who spoke about the positives and the necessities of screening, and also Senator Kelleher for her insightful description of the difference between diagnosis and screening.

Significant work continues on many of the issues raised by the CervicalCheck crisis. A supplementary report from Dr. Scally will deal with a laboratory that is no longer providing services for CervicalCheck and related accreditation and procurement matters. The independent clinical expert review to be carried out under the auspices of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists will examine the screening history of up to 1,850 women diagnosed with cervical cancer who had previously been screened. A process of seeking consent from women to participate in this review is ongoing. This will provide further information for women about their screening history.

Mr. Justice Meenan has been tasked by the Government with identifying further mechanisms to avoid adversarial court proceedings, specifically for the women and families affected by the CervicalCheck controversy. He has confirmed that his work is under way and will be completed in October. This reflects the fact that while the Government and the State Claims Agency are committed to using mediation, where possible, to settle cases in a sensitive and compassionate manner, mediation involving multiple parties and disputed facts has presented real difficulties in achieving successful resolutions in some cases.This report, and the implementation of the necessary changes, presents a very significant challenge for policymakers and healthcare professionals in the years ahead. However, with this report we now have the framework to ensure that women can once again trust our national cervical screening programme as safe, effective and, above all, patient-centred.

There will be funding to implement these recommendations. As regards the commission of inquiry, the Minister will meet with the women involved and their representatives in the next week and that decision will be taken. I have noted Senator Kelleher's comments on that issue. That is a decision yet to be taken and will be further developed over the coming weeks.

Senator Devine asked about figures for the HPV vaccine. I will pass those comments on to the Minister as I do not have the figures to hand. Senator Nash also referred to the uptake of the HPV vaccine now that the schools are back. I hope I have addressed all the issues raised.