I thought I misheard the last time. Last week at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health, I welcomed the commitment to going down the route of mandatory disclosure. It is an idea whose time is long overdue. Any more information on the when and the how of that will be welcome. I know there is legislation planned in that area. I am concerned about those women who have not been diagnosed with cancer but who may be fearful that there may be information in wrongly-read scans that could affect them and their case.

When I asked the question about the near 12,000 telephone calls that have been made so far to the helpline, I gathered that about 50% of those calls relate to people who have not been diagnosed with cancer. If that is the case, it is a real measure of the fear out there. It is very important that people get answers as soon as possible.

I was also concerned to read that the gentleman in charge of the scoping inquiry, Dr. Gabriel Scally, is concerned that there is a fevered atmosphere within the Department of Health as people scramble to be ready for the grilling by the Committee of Public Accounts. That might pose some threat to the scoping inquiry and simply must not be allowed to happen.

I will briefly advert to what Senator Ivana Bacik had to say about last night's programme. She is right to deplore anybody calling anybody else a liar. The Senator, however, would be on stronger ground if she took the sauce for the goose as sauce for the gander approach and recalled that there were people on both sides last night who were subject to that particular accusation. It is important to not just pick our own side and sing that grievance. Dr. Peter Boylan-----

With respect, I did not. On a point of order-----

Here we go again with the points of order, a Chathaoirligh.

She did not mention it at all.

Dr. Boylan got a mention but I think Ms Maria Steen did not.

Senator Mullen, I thought Senator Bacik was very balanced in her comments. She was not mentioning one over another.

She mentioned Dr. Boylan in particular but she did not mention Ms Maria Steen. I bring that up because a very eminent person not aligned to either side, Dr. Mary Holohan-----

She did not tell the truth. It was she who-----

-----is a former dean of professional-----

-----said there was no definition of viability-----

Oh dear.

-----in the draft legislation, which there clearly is. So that was an untruth from a lawyer.

Please could we have order? Senator Mullen is over his time so let him continue with no more interruption.

Thank you. I was thinking of Dr. Holohan, a former dean of professional competence and a current practising obstetrician in the Rotunda, who says "the medical needs of the mother do not require the removal of the Eighth Amendment". It is a really strong statement from somebody in her position, as she regrets that "there appears to be a campaign strategy" to suggest otherwise. That is very worrying. I heard Dr. Boylan was on, unopposed, with Pat Kenny on Newstalk yet again this morning. It is now a fact that there are approximately ten or 11 obstetricians in Cork who are asking Dr. Boylan to step aside from his role as chair in light of his campaigning.

What rubbish.

That is a personal attack.

I have no interest in calling the man a liar but he has serious questions to answer at this stage.

We should not be making personal comments about people not here to defend themselves. That is inappropriate.

Hear, hear.

I must defend myself. I had attacked no individual but I regretted that attacks were being made against one individual.

On a point of order-----

Here we go.

Let us be factual.

Please. I have already ruled on this and we are moving to Senator Gavan. For the record, whatever the debate, I do not want people who are not here to defend themselves being called liars or anything else. It is inappropriate and we should be more balanced in this Chamber.

Like others, I wanted to speak on the horrendous atrocities in Palestine over the past number of days and weeks. Nobody has a monopoly on the topic and there have been genuine comments from all sides of the Chamber on Palestine. We must recognise that. My frustration, if I am honest, comes from the fact that I have spent time there and seen how horrific conditions are for people in Palestine. One can see at first hand it is an apartheid state and we should be clear that is what it is. For a Palestinian on the West Bank, it is illegal to be a member of a political party, for God's sake. That is the extent of the discrimination.

My frustration is it looks as if the Government is not going to take any constructive action. Surely to God, this Chamber can come together on the Palestine issue. We have the opportunity to do so in a few weeks, as we have Senator Black's Bill. We did not get there the last time but we all know this is an ongoing atrocity of the worst kind. We can either be a talking shop about it, saying it is terrible, shaking our heads and moving on, or we can do something about it. If people do not support full boycott, divestment and sanctions, as I do, they should at least go as far as Senator Black's Bill.

I remind the Leader, who I think is a similar vintage to me - I hope I am not doing him a disservice - that we defeated apartheid in South Africa not through dialogue but through a powerful boycott campaign across the world that drove the regime to the table.

It was led by the Dunnes Stores workers.

It was absolutely led by the Dunnes Stores strikers. If we check the records, unfortunately, not all the politicians at the time came out to support those people. Only a few of them did so, in fairness, from a few parties, including our own party and Labour. Let us not be a talking shop about this as otherwise all these sweet words mean absolutely nothing. We have an opportunity in a few weeks to support Senator Black's Bill but we either do that or, frankly, we are hypocrites.

Hear, hear.