David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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683. To ask the Minister for Health the number of claims which have been made to the CervicalCheck Tribunal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4507/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The CervicalCheck Tribunal was established on 27 October 2020 under the CervicalCheck Tribunal Act 2019. Establishment of the Tribunal was finalised with the appointment of the nominated members to the Tribunal with effect from 1 December 2020, implementing in full the recommendations of Mr Justice Charles Meenan on an alternative to the Court process for eligible CervicalCheck Claims.

The Tribunal has notified my Department that it has received 19 claims to date. The number of claims received is now increasing regularly. The figure includes two claims that were consolidated. The claims received are a combination of new claims i.e. claims that were not the subject of proceedings before the High Court, and claims transferred from the High Court.

On 24 January 2022, I made an order under the CervicalCheck Tribunal Act 2019 to extend the closing date for receipt of claims by the Tribunal to 26 July 2022. The Act does not provide for a further extension of this date (i.e. post July 2022). The Tribunal has successfully brought a number of claims to conclusion swiftly and I am confident it can continue to do so.

The Tribunal is the most appropriate venue to hear and determine CervicalCheck claims. It has been specifically designed for that purpose. It is, of course, entirely up to eligible women as to whether or not they use it.