Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This Oireachtas has shown a great ability to hold me to account. I take questions on CervicalCheck very regularly in the Oireachtas, and rightly so, and I expect that to continue, as it should. I also expect that I will be sending the recommendations to the appropriate Oireachtas committee, which I instinctively presume will be the Committee on Health, although it could cross over to the Committee on Justice and Equality.

For the record of the House, I want to reference section 31(4), which reads, "The Facilitator shall, subject to this Act, be independent in the performance of his or her functions under this Chapter, and shall in particular, be independent of the tribunal and its functions". While, as Minister of the day, I certainly appoint many people - I appointed Dr. Gabriel Scally, for example - they are appointed to be very independent, and I believe we have a proud enough track record of those people showing and asserting their independence. That would certainly be the type of person I would intend to appoint.