Harris admits failings in how cervical cancer court cases handled
‘Clearly we hit a roadblock’
HEALTH Minister Simon Harris has acknowledged the delay in starting the clinical review into the cervical cancer crisis.
It emerged, after campaigner Vicky Phelan’s meeting with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar this week, that 221 women affected by the scandal were yet to be asked to give their consent for the clinical review aspect of the investigation.
This is an international expert panel review, which will be led by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists along with the British Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology.
It was initially hoped the clinical review would be completed by the end of that month, but yesterday Mr Harris acknowledged a delay. ‘It has taken longer. It has absolutely taken longer,’ he said.
The Government confirmed on Wednesday evening they had appointed Mr Justice Charles Meenan to identify further ways to avoid adversarial court proceedings for the women and families affected by the CervicalCheck controversy.
This came after a public outcry when terminally ill mother Ruth Morrissey was forced to take to the stand last week in the High Court for two days.
Yesterday, Mr Harris said the Government’s commitment was ‘genuinely true’, and that what had happened to Ms Morrissey had made him ‘angry and upset’.
‘Who in their right mind would like to see a terminally ill person in court? So we gave a commitment that every woman would be able to avail of mediation, and as you know that worked in a number of cases.
‘Clearly we hit a roadblock… And what we have to do now, as any Government should do, when you hit a roadblock on a commitment that you gave, is work out a way of overcoming that roadblock. So that is exactly what we are going to do,’ he said.
He said the commitment from the Taoiseach was one supported by the entire Cabinet. And Mr Harris acknowledged that mediation is ‘not going to work in all cases’.
Meanwhile, cancer campaigner Stephen Teap has said the Government’s approach to the controversy has been more of a ‘reactive mood than proactive mood’.
The father of two, whose wife Irene died of the disease and is one the 221 affected by the CervicalCheck controversy, yesterday said the Taoiseach ‘particularly’ was being more reactive than proactive and that ‘he’s not actually getting out in front and taking charge on this’.
He cited the appointment of Judge Meenan to establish an alternative dispute mechanism as a reaction to the Ruth Morrissey cancer case ‘and the pressures that have been put on him’ in recent weeks.
And he also said it is clear the Government ‘have not been on top of this at any point’.
But Mr Teap, speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland yesterday, did acknowledge that some things have moved forward, such as ‘the likes of the support packages that are in place – the funding for the support group that we have managed to achieve… that side of it has been fine’.
Health Minister Mr Harris was later asked if he accepted the remark that the Taoiseach has been ‘reactive’ as opposed to proactive, and he said: ‘I would absolutely accept that the Government was trying to deal with an unprecedented health situation that was evolving’.
‘Remember, in the month of May as Health Minister, I was still trying to ascertain basic facts as to how many women were affected,’ he continued.
‘So there have been an awful lot of moving parts to this. We have made progress in relation to a number of areas, including supports for these women; medical cards, childcare costs, an ex gratia payment, also providing support for an advocacy group, [and the] setting up the Scally Review.’