In May 2018, Leo Varadkar stood in this Chamber and promised no woman affected by CervicalCheck would be forced to go to court to get justice. In 2019, he apologised for the disrespect, humiliation and deceit shown by the State to the women affected by the CervicalCheck scandal.

In September 2021, I said in this Chamber, and a number of times since, that the tribunal would not work. Indeed, it has not worked. We have learned the tribunal has been shut down without a single red cent awarded to any of these women. Not only were they failed disastrously by CervicalCheck, but they have been failed disastrously again. Incredibly, €3.4 million was spent on offices, leases and fit-outs for an organisation that did not give one red cent to the women who need it. That so much has been spent on achieving so little for women who were owed so much by the State is a disgrace. Will the Taoiseach apologise for disrespecting these women yet again?

The Deputy cannot have it both ways. We did establish the tribunal. That was a commitment a previous Government and former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar gave. The tribunal was established in good faith. People always have the entitlement to take their case through the courts if they so wish, but that tribunal, introduced by the former Minister, Stephen Donnelly, at the time, had a very broad framework in how it was established and the jurisdiction it had and so forth. In our view, it would potentially have been an easier route to go through but people are entitled to take decisions in respect of how they pursue this.