CervicalCheck tribunal delay
Deputy Alan Kelly criticised the decision to proceed with the CervicalCheck tribunal during level 5 restrictions and said the issue had not been handled properly. The Taoiseach said he would ask the Minister to meet him and that the tribunal was being advanced after long delays.
I want to raise a sensitive issue with the Taoiseach. Some people believe that during a pandemic or a crisis, there are times when they push on with other things because they will not get enough notice. On 2 September, the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, met online with the 221+ group regarding the CervicalCheck tribunal. The group expressed all of its concerns and said it was a positive meeting. The Minister has issued a letter to the group in the last 24 hours in which he says he is going ahead with the tribunal from next week, in the middle of a level 5 pandemic, despite the fact he has addressed none of their concerns. I am not going to let him do that and bury this. He has not taken on any of the issues the 221+ group raised, such as being non-adversarial; allowing women who have recurrences of cancer to go back to the tribunal; why labs have to be brought into it has also not been addressed; a guarantee the HSE will not object; the time period of nine months is being put on the tribunal; and how the Statute of Limitations is affecting the women. All six of those issues were sincerely raised with the Minister but they were ignored. Going ahead with this tribunal next week is the wrong thing to do. I ask the Taoiseach to speak to the Minister and to ensure these issues are addressed. Otherwise Vicky Phelan and Lorraine Walsh will be telling every woman affected and their families to ignore it.
Comment on this
That is not the way to proceed either. I have no difficulty asking the Minister to meet the Deputy because he has met the 221+ group. His understanding was that he could proceed with the tribunal because a lot of people were complaining about the delay in getting it up and running. That has been a complaint for a number of months.
That was the original, understandable and justifiable complaint. For the past while we have been doing everything we possibly can to get the nuts and bolts in place-----
Comment on this
-----to get the tribunal established and do things in a non-adversarial way. I will talk to the Minister. If there are issues, they can be dealt with and resolved.
Comment on this
They are the same issues that were there in September.