Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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770. To ask the Minister for Health the steps he is taking to ensure that the State Claims Agency will not include or bring in external laboratories in relation to cases regarding the CervicalCheck scandal given the outcome of a High Court case (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8340/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The State Claims Agency (SCA) has a statutory remit to manage personal injury claims on behalf of Delegated State Authorities including the Health Service Executive. The management of such cases is delegated to the SCA and, as such, the Government has no role in determining how these cases are conducted.

In respect of the case referred to by the Deputy, the finding of primary liability against the HSE arose because the third-party laboratories who had responsibility for reviewing the relevant smear tests were found to have been negligent. To determine if there is a liability on the State, it must first be determined if there has been negligence by the laboratories. In the CervicalCheck Tribunal, or in the High Court, a woman can choose not to sue the laboratories, and to make a claim only against the HSE. However, the laboratories will still need to be involved, as it is their reading of smears that is at issue.

In a recent case, the laboratories were involved as ‘third parties’ rather than defendants, and the CervicalCheck Tribunal can facilitate that model.

The SCA have clarified that where a woman chooses not to name the laboratories as defendants, it will not seek to challenge this and will instead join the laboratories as third parties. This is on the basis that the issues between the State and the laboratories will be dealt with during the same proceedings.