Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House once more. It is important to begin by briefly explaining what this Bill sets out to do. The Bill primarily sets out to amend the CervicalCheck Tribunal Act 2019 to extend the period for receipt of claims for compensation to the CervicalCheck tribunal until January 2022. Section 1 of the Bill amends section 12 of the 2019 Act to extend the current period. This Bill seeks to extend the above nine months by a further six months or more, per the subsection, at the discretion of the Minister.

I welcome this Bill. It is the absolute minimum that should be done to compensate the hundreds of women who have been affected. These women have been failed not once but twice by this Government. The second failure stems from the subsequent treatment of these women, which has been nothing short of appalling. That only 90 minutes have been allocated for this debate is also disappointing. That is 90 minutes given to the women failed by this Government and then dragged through incessant and unrelenting legal battles, even though in 2018 the then Taoiseach, and current Tánaiste, falsely promised no woman would be made go to court and even referred to being aware of the further trauma a court battle would cause. It is important to remember these women were made to endure these lengthy, stressful and tenuous court battles. These legal battles were made necessary to secure any level of justice. They were then left to suffer not only the physical effects of this failure but also mental and emotional anguish.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women. In Ireland, approximately 270 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer per year and just under 100 deaths occur from it annually. However, with proper screening and early detection the disease is preventable. In Ireland this screening was and is outsourced to US laboratories, a move on the part of a Fianna Fáil Government, undoubtedly to cut costs, while having little regard to the difference in screening standards between Irish and US laboratories. If Fianna Fáil had had more regard for the lives of these women, rather than cutting back on costs, the outcome for them may have been different. However, the Government is still not prepared to accept any fault and shifted, and continues to shift, the blame to the US laboratories to which it willingly outsourced the responsibility for screening. It must be remembered that Fine Gael is not entirely blameless either. It has, even now, retained the privatisation of cervical screening in Ireland.

Not only did the Government fail in its duty to protect these women from this absolutely preventable disease, it also failed to show compassion, empathy or indeed any proper accountability in its subsequent treatment of these women. There is a continuing lack of dignity and respect shown to these women, particularly regarding the lack of accountability. It is suitable to reference the actions, or should I say the lack thereof, of the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tony Holohan. Dr. Holohan echoed the attitude of this Government with regard to these women when he was seen to offer his deepest sympathies but after several chances refused to make an apology or take any accountability over his failure. However, what is perhaps the most abhorrent of Dr. Holohan's actions was his strongly advising against conducting of a much called for CervicalCheck review. This is the man who went on, to the absolute outrage of the public, to be awarded the freedom of the city of Dublin in January. What message does that send to the women affected by the cervical cancer scandal and their families? I have no doubt a similar attitude will arise on the part of Dr. Holohan and his merry National Public Health Emergency Team when a Covid-19 tribunal of inquiry is conducted.