Tánaiste Simon Coveney has rejected an apparent suggestion by the State’s most senior civil servant that the Government knew months ago of claims by women as a result of smear test errors.
Secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach, Martin Fraser, told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee on Thursday that two separate lists of sensitive cases involving the State Claims Agency went to Government every three months.
The agency was involved in the HSE’s defence in a case taken by Limerick woman Vicky Phelan, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2017. Her diagnosis followed a false negative smear test result in 2011 from a US laboratory against whom Ms Phelan was awarded €2.5 million. The case against the HSE was struck out.
Mr Fraser said he personally had not been aware of the case before it was raised in the media.
His comments appeared to suggest some members of Government might have known in advance that Ms Phelan and other women were pursuing claims over their difficulties with the screening service.
The Tánaiste was later asked in the Dáil by Fianna Fáil deputy leader Dara Calleary about Mr Fraser’s remarks and if the Government was “alerted to this case some months ago”.
The Tánaiste said a list of sensitive cases was presented to Cabinet “from time to time” but Ms Phelan’s case was not on the list. “This information has just been given to me on my way in to the House today. I understand this is the confirmation that the secretary general to the Government has provided.”
People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith said she did not believe Minister for Health Simon Harris did not know about the cases when his department knew in March. She also claimed the Department of Health was “full of people who are trying to cover up” and Mr Harris needed to deal with it or resign.
The Tánaiste said it was not credible to suggest Mr Harris knew about it in advance because he had put multiple changes in place immediately.
Mr Coveney also rejected repeated calls for HSE director general Tony O’Brien to stand down. Mr O’Brien is to stand aside from his appointment in January to the board of a US contraceptive manufacturer for the remainder of his HSE tenure.
Sinn Féin deputy leader Pearse Doherty said this “only goes to show the inappropriateness of the Health Minister’s sanctioning the board appointment”.
He said Ms Phelan had made it clear that Mr O’Brien should go. “We can’t allow Mr O’Brien to walk off into the sunset in six weeks with his pension,” he said.
But Mr Coveney said “rather than looking for heads, we are trying to look for the truth, establish the facts, and in doing that in time we need to hold people to account regarding their own role in the decisions made that led to this breach of trust”.
Meanwhile, Mr Harris told the Seanad the CervicalCheck helpline has received more than 8,000 calls since it was set up.
"I have been advised that waiting times for calls to be answered have reduced significantly following my decision to bring in 40 additional public health staff to deal with the volume of calls being received," he said.
He said primary HPV screening would be introduced later this year.
