Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman, and welcome the Minister for Health to the House. As my Labour Party colleague, Deputy Alan Kelly, noted when speaking about this legislation in the Dáil, this Bill is Vicky Phelan's legacy, and the legacy of all the women who lost their lives due to this scandal. I want to join others in recognising the work that has been done on this matter by Deputy Kelly - I refer in particular to the commitment and promise he made to Vicky - and by all of the women and those involved in the 221+ group to ensure that this Bill got to where it needed to be.I acknowledge the Minister has been working intensely with both Deputy Kelly and the 221+ group to get this to a place where people felt this legislation would do exactly what it is meant to do and that Vicky's legacy would live on in this. She made this legislation front and centre of everything she wanted to achieve. It was core to everything she did and it was incredibly important to her and I know that Deputy Kelly spent some time, particularly towards the end of her life, really listening to her and committing to her that he would do everything and anything to make sure this legislation got to where it needs to be because it is so incredibly important.

It is significant that this legislation is here today which is the day before International Women's Day. It stands as a legacy achievement for Vicky Phelan and a political success for the women who lost their lives as a result of what happened with CervicalCheck and those whose lives have been turned upside down but who have survived. I think of the family, friends, and very often the children whose lives also have been turned upside down. I am thinking of Stephen Teap and his wife Irene and many of the very vocal campaigners on this issue.

I know there was great accolade when this Bill went through the Dáil and it was passed and done with but it must come through the Seanad also. It is significant for Lorraine Walsh, Stephen Teap and the 221+ group who have done an extraordinary job in campaigning and advocating on this and will no doubt continue to do so. The critical issue for this Bill is the right of patients to be entitled to a review of their diagnosis and as Lorraine Walsh stated:

It just means that you can actually find out the truth. It is so important to everybody to know the truth in relation to your history in relation to your health and be able to, at least, have peace.

Now at least everybody will have an opportunity to request a review and it is mandatory that the agency will have to tell patients about the review process when they enter a screening programme. I thought it was important to use Ms Walsh's own words and it is important that patients are informed of their right to make requests for a Part 5 review and that patients must be told this at the point of screening or even before that.

While there are still parts of the Scally report that remain to be implemented, we have to acknowledge the work he did. His report and its recommendations are part of the reason we are here today. We still have a long way to go in terms of many of the issues Dr. Scally recommended, particularly the issue of making a complaint on clinical judgement. The Bill has obviously gone through rigorous examination in the Dáil with very long debates, amendments to amendments, and I think amendments to amendments to amendments at one point. It was a robust process and exactly what these Houses are for. The legislation is important but other issues remain that we cannot put on the long finger. We have done so much regarding human papillomavirus, HPV, screening and testing and bringing laboratories back but there is a little bit more still to do. It has taken far too many scandals for this legislation to come about but this legislation is an important step in the right direction. I attended a women's health forum in Galway last week and we talked about different things about women's health, from Savita Halappanavar all the way to Vicky and a point really struck me in the room. I was incredibly honoured to have met Vicky many times, speaking at women's health events, and I remember her immense wit and fun. However I should never have had to meet her. I should never have known who Vicky was unless she was running for political office or making her name in another way. While I am incredibly honoured I got to meet her and to know her and I am incredibly proud of the legacy she has left for Ireland and hopefully for women coming forward, I am sad we ever had to know her in that way. Senator Gavan used her words about how she did not want our accolades or broken promises, that she wanted action and wanted change.It is important that while we do remember her and the great legacy she left, including in this Bill, it is tinged with great sadness that we ever had to know her in this way and that this became her defining feature, as opposed to the funny, smart, quick-witted woman that lots of people got to know. As I said, this Bill has gone through a fairly rigorous process in the other House and I very much welcome that we have this Bill today and hopefully some justice and some righting of wrongs will now be done for those women who were affected, and for their friends and families.