Last May in the wake of the CervicalCheck scandal many assurances were given to women. In what was a difficult time for women and women's healthcare in the State one of the appropriate and sensible responses by the Minister for Health was the offer of a free repeat smear for those women who were concerned.

It was what many people had been calling for at the time. It was generally assumed that the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, had this under control and that he was liaising with GPs and with the laboratories to ensure the tests would be carried out swiftly and the results returned within the normal timeframe. What we did not expect was that nothing would be done.

Last May, when the Minister announced this response, GPs told us that they had not been consulted on the provision of additional tests. It should have been clear then that different responses were being announced, but that no actual strategy or planning had gone into them.

Announcements are becoming the hallmark of this Government; delivery, on the other hand, is often sadly lacking. Furthermore, the Minister did not even plan for how to categorise the delivery of additional smear tests so that high-risk tests, those who were due for scheduled tests and those attending for a re-test were separated. What was, and still is, a good idea has been completely mismanaged to the point that it is having the reverse effect of what was the intention.

The measure was supposed to assure women, but now we have women articulating further worry and discomfort over the length of time they are waiting for the results of their tests. Women were told that they would have the results in six to eight weeks, but they have now been left waiting for up to 18 weeks because the laboratories cannot deal with the additional volume of tests being sent to them. That is having the knock-on effect of samples expiring because the laboratory cannot process them quickly enough. That is creating a cyclical effect where samples are being taken and then expiring because of the increased waiting times due to the volume of tests taken, and it is being repeated again and again.

Not being able to plan and resource services is the inevitable consequence of outsourcing. If we do not tackle the issues around a lack of human resources at the laboratories to deal with the backlog, these issues will continue and women will not get the peace of mind they need.

The Minister, Deputy Harris, has said that this serious issue is a priority, so what is being done address it? Can we, and the women affected, be given a realistic timeframe for when these issues will be dealt with because there are people who are worried? Has the Tánaiste a realistic plan and a timeframe to repatriate testing to this State? Will he initiate a publicity campaign to advise women of the delays and reassure them? Will he use that campaign to highlight the realistic timeframe for repeat tests?

We know that screening saves lives. I have said that many times, but as a user of the service I and other users must have confidence in that service. Being honest with women has to be central to this and it must involve being honest about the timeframes.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which is both topical and very important. The Minister, Deputy Harris, announced the availability of a free smear test in response to women who are feeling concerned. This was one of the key issues raised on the helpline, and doctors also raised it with the Minister. The level of uptake showed that many women wished to get the reassurance of a smear test out of cycle. The Health Service Executive regrets that there are significant delays currently in the reporting of smear test results.

I know that addressing the backlog is a priority for the Minister and the HSE. The programme was operated for many years with a reporting time of between four and six weeks. Unfortunately, results are currently being reported within 18 weeks of the test being taken. In a small number of cases, it is even longer than that. That is not good enough. I would like to apologise to those patients affected and assure them that everything possible is being done to try to improve the position.

I acknowledge the difficulties these delays are causing smear takers and GPs as well as patients, primarily. These delays have been caused by an upsurge in women presenting for smear tests. There are two main factors contributing to the increase in demand. As well as women presenting for out-of-cycle smear tests since April, we have also seen an increase in the number of women attending for normal CervicalCheck appointments.

While this increase in participation by women in cervical screening is very welcome, it is contributing to delays and pressures. Between 1 May 2018 and 30 September, 42,469 repeat or out-of-cycle smear tests were undertaken. As of 13 October 2018, 86,210 smear test samples were still in progress and not yet reported on. That compares with approximately 23,000 smear test samples which would normally be expected to be in progress in the system. What we are seeing, therefore, is a dramatic increase in both out-of-cycle tests for understandable reasons, as the Deputy said, to reassure people, and CervicalCheck seeing an increase in the normal testing system as well.

We have asked laboratories to undertake additional recruitment and that they try to streamline processes around release of reports. Laboratories are continuing to provide for overtime and to manage annual leave and schedules, with their best efforts, to try to reduce the backlog.

The whole point of this process was to be able to get test results back in a timely manner that would reassure women. I can tell the Deputy that addressing this issue is a top priority for the HSE and for the Minister, and we are working with the laboratories to try to do that.

While the Tánaiste's apology is welcome, there is not much evidence that this is actually a priority. Anybody could have predicted that there would be an upsurge in the uptake of smear tests because women were concerned. I thought it would have been very easy to predict that but, instead, a promise was made and a commitment given, and that was broken. I put the question again to the Tánaiste. Will he commit to an information publicity campaign advising women of the realistic timeframe they can expect?

I will not personalise this but there are women who are waiting, and they are justifiably anxious. They need to know when they will get their results. At the heart of the CervicalCheck scandal was the fact that information was withheld from women. Dr. Gabriel Scally found there was a paternalistic attitude on the part of some people in the HSE. Withholding information from women is what was wrong. Being honest and up-front with them is what is required. If the delays are going to continue and if the plans were not made, the Tánaiste should be honest and come out and tell women publicly the length of time they can expect to wait before they get a repeat test and a result.

I do not disagree with the Deputy on that. The least women deserve is a full understanding and truth around the timelines and the pressures involved in this process. Many people will understand the reason for those pressures. We have a finite number of laboratories we have contracts with and with which we work. Repatriating laboratories for testing will not solve the problem in the short term. We have received assurance from Dr. Scally on the quality of the laboratories we currently use. There are medium-term planning issues that will undoubtedly progress but in the short term we need to be able to provide reassurance to women on what they can expect from this service in terms of timelines and accuracy and integrity in the system.

I will commit to the Deputy that we will certainly endeavour to make sure that everybody who has a smear test gets a very clear picture in terms of the estimated accurate times they are likely to have to wait to get back their results. I believe that is the least we should be doing.