Taoiseach appears to shift stance on suing laboratories
THE Government appears to be stepping back from its commitment to settle Cervical-Check cases if the labs involved decline to participate in mediation.
In May, Leo Varadkar promised that if the US laboratories involved in these legal cases said no to mediation then ‘the State will settle and pursue the lab later’.
He said the State ‘will be on the side of the plaintiff, on the side of the woman, mediating with her’.
Yesterday the Taoiseach appeared to take a step back, saying it was becoming more apparent to him ‘that perhaps mediation is not the Holy Grail or panacea that we thought it was a few months ago’.
And he said for the State to step in, ‘we would definitely need to have the expert reports’ to prove there was negligence involved.
He also said yesterday that he would be open to the idea of a public inquiry into the scandal.
But Mr Varadkar insisted: ‘We will endeavour to settle these cases by mediation so that women don’t have to take the stand in court.
‘Mediation is being offered in every case. It has settled two cases. It is happening again or is about to happen again in the case that is currently before the courts.
‘But I do, of course, regret not being clearer in acknowledging that mediation may not be successful in every situation and that people have the right to decide to take their action to court if they feel that is in their interests.
‘Perhaps I should have been clearer at the time.’
He also said: ‘I certainly had much more confidence that we could settle all cases through mediation, thus avoiding a court trial.
‘But it has become evident to me that may not be the case so we need to explore other mechanisms, other alternatives to going through the court process.
‘We have had other mechanisms, redress schemes, for example, for similar health scandals in the past. Solutions that I want to find and I’ll do my best to find them.’
Asked about recent accusations that the Government was not sticking to his May commitments, Mr Varadkar said he was ‘not going to get engaged in an argument with anyone’ as it was a ‘very sensitive issue’ which needs ‘to be handled in a sensitive way’.
However, he did reiterate it was the Government’s preference to ‘endeavour to settle any outstanding legal cases by mediation’.
The Taoiseach said he was keen to get a commission of investigation running and would discuss this today when he meets Vicky Phelan, the terminally ill woman whose case led to the controversy.
In terms of consequences for medical staff involved, the Taoiseach said that that was up to bodies such as the Medical Council.