I realise today's Brexit events are understandably overshadowing everything else. However, today women at the centre of the CervicalCheck controversy and their families still find themselves fighting against the HSE and the State just to get access to their own medical information. They are living in fear, with some in the midst of very aggressive forms of cancer treatment. Others are still dealing with side effects of those treatments. These people should not have to battle for anything else right now; their entire focus should be on staying as well as possible. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

I draw attention to the contradictions that exist between the information being put forward by the Taoiseach, the Minister for Health, HSE officials and CervicalCheck and the lived reality for the involved women and their families. Yesterday I spoke to Mr. Cian O'Carroll, the solicitor representing many of the impacted women, and he informed me he is still chasing slides from as far back as April or May. The HSE put a protocol in place in August, following which Mr. O'Carroll engaged with staff to try to improve it. However, since 10 September, when he provided suggested improvements, he has had no engagement with the HSE. That is more than two months ago.

The Taoiseach agreed with me in the Chamber last week that there should be no further or undue delays. Before that, he told the House that no woman should have to go to court. However, I am told there will be an appeal to the High Court to force the release of the slides for these women and their families. They will be put through unnecessary torture as a result. Seven women from the 221+ group have come to me indicating they are waiting an inordinate time for access to the slides, yet this jars with what HSE representatives told the Committee of Public Accounts last week. They said the average waiting time for women who requested the slides was 22 days and the HSE had put a specific unit in place to deal with the matter. These women have said that is not the reality.

I understand the national screening service ordered Quest Diagnostics to stop releasing slides in August. I also understand that where previously it was the norm to include the accompanying laboratory reports with slides, they are not now being released. It is clear from the experiences related to me that the HSE has become far more focused on legal issues and less focused on patients affected by this matter. The goalposts are moving for these women and their families. We cannot continue to treat them like this. Will the Tánaiste outline the process and timeline whereby these women will be given access to the slides and associated reports?

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter again as I know she raised it with the Taoiseach last week. I was present when she did so. I have received a note from the Minister for Health, who I know is probably anxious to respond to the Deputy on the matter. Maybe I can ask him to speak to the Deputy afterwards.

The HSE is focused on responding to all requests for records as soon as possible. To aid this process, external legal advisers are liaising with women and their solicitors on the release of slides. The protocol in place ensures the integrity and traceability of slides being transferred. Under the protocol, solicitors are required to provide specific information about a chosen laboratory before slides can be released. This ensures the integrity of the slide is protected and that all slides can be traced when they leave a current location. Where any delays arise, the cases are being escalated as a priority.

My understanding is representatives of the HSE attended meetings of both the Joint Committee on Health yesterday and the Committee of Public Accounts last week to answer specific questions from Deputies on this. They provided average waiting times and talked through how the process works. I do not have information on individual cases but I assure the Deputy that the Department of Health, the HSE and the Government want to ensure we treat families as quickly as possible while protecting the integrity of the process. This is to ensure families, loved ones and women can get access to their own slides and medical records as quickly as possible without any undue delay.

As the Deputy will be aware, there will also be a report from Mr. Justice Meehan on alternative mechanisms to avoid adversarial court proceedings for women and their families affected by CervicalCheck issues. That report will come back to the Government. We do not any woman or family to have to go to court to access slides that they should be entitled to access quickly and without any undue delay. We want to focus on the procedures being put in place to ensure that happens.

I would love to believe what I am being told but seven people have contacted me who are caught up in this and who have been directly impacted. Why would they contact me if this was working? The Tánaiste should ask himself that question. I have been told the HSE has been put on notice that there will be a case in the High Court to demand these slides. Why would that happen if this process was working satisfactorily? It is not working satisfactorily and it is unacceptable that people should be forced to go to court just to get their medical information. Will the Tánaiste review this today? I do not want to have to raise this matter and I would prefer it if the process was working for those women. I am sure the Tánaiste would prefer that as well but I do not believe I am being told the truth.

I will ask the Minister to speak to the Deputy afterwards to get the detail of the case as it is hard for me to respond on a case that may have-----

There are seven cases.

Okay, it is a number of cases. There may be reasons, legal or otherwise, as to why the delays have happened. We need to understand the detail of those cases and what the blockage is so we can act to remove the blockage as quickly as possible. The only motivation of the Government, the Minister, the HSE and all involved in the lessons learned from the CervicalCheck issue is to try to treat women and their families with the respect they deserve. We are trying to ensure we can give them full access to information as quickly as possible.

We also have to protect the integrity of the process. We cannot ignore the legal advice on this but I assure the Deputy that the priority is to try to give people the respect they deserve and the access to the information that is their right as quickly as possible.