Vol. 981 Tuesday, No. 6 9 April 2019 DÍOSPÓIREACHTAÍ PARLAIMINTE PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES DÁIL ÉIREANN TUAIRISC OIFIGIÚIL—Neamhcheartaithe (OFFICIAL REPORT—Unrevised) Insert Date Here 09/04/2019A00050Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders’ Questions 639 09/04/2019J00200An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business 650 09/04/2019P01100Electoral (Supplement to the Register of Electors) Regulations 2019: Motion 660 09/04/2019P01400Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No 2) Bill 2018: Instruction to Committee 660 09/04/2019P01700Ceisteanna - Questions 661 09/04/2019P01750Taoiseach’s Meetings and Engagements 661 09/04/2019R00200Taoiseach’s Meetings and Engagements 666 09/04/2019S00700Taoiseach’s Meetings and Engagements 669 09/04/2019T00900Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������673 09/04/2019BB00200Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters 691 09/04/2019BB00400Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������691 09/04/2019BB00500Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions 691 09/04/2019BB00550Housing Loans 691 09/04/2019CC00900Social and Affordable Housing 694 09/04/2019DD00950Credit Unions 696 09/04/2019EE01800Water Services Infrastructure 699 09/04/2019EE03750Housing Provision 702 09/04/2019FF00950Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions 704 09/04/2019FF01000Social and Affordable Housing Provision 704 09/04/2019GG00400Planning Guidelines 706 09/04/2019GG01300Social and Affordable Housing 708 09/04/2019JJ00300Vacant Sites Levy 712 09/04/2019KK01100Private Rented Accommodation 715 09/04/2019LL00550Pyrite Issues ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������719 09/04/2019MM00100Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate 721 09/04/2019MM00200Home Repossessions ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������721 09/04/2019NN00600National Broadband Plan 724 09/04/2019OO00650Garda Operations 727 09/04/2019QQ00050School Accommodation Provision �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������729 09/04/2019RR00300EU Regulations: Referral to Joint Committee 733 09/04/2019UU00250An Bille um an Ochtú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Neodracht) 2018 : An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príob- háideacha] 741 09/04/2019UU00300Thirty-Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Neutrality) Bill 2018: Second Stage [Private Members] 741 DÁIL ÉIREANN Dé Máirt, 9 Aibreán 2019 Tuesday, 9 April 2019 Chuaigh an Ceann Comhairle i gceannas ar 2 pm Paidir. Prayer. 09/04/2019A00050Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders’ Questions 09/04/2019A00100Deputy Micheál Martin: Last week I referred to the fact that as many as 80,000 women were waiting for cervical smear test results There is an enormous backlog, largely because of a decision taken by the Minister for Health last April to offer a free test to every woman who requested one For about three months we have been seeking to ascertain the extent to which the Minister sought, received or ignored official advice on this decision because it has had significantly damaging repercussions for the programme which has been very effective over a period of ten years, with 65,000 pre-cancer cases being diagnosed and a very high participation rate It is now in something of a crisis The truth and the record of the House matter The Minister’s story has shifted continu- ously from January onwards, following questions about the issue We need a comprehensive statement from him. On 5 February he denied that the decision had been made against official advice. He said that was not the case, but we now know that there was official advice against the decision Professor Gráinne Flannelly’s submission was one element of it We know that there was a meeting between Department of Health and CervicalCheck officials on that day and that an email went from CervicalCheck to the Department The Minister subsequently said the warnings had been significantly after he had made his decision. He set this out in a statement to the Dáil in February We know that Mr Tony O’Brien, the then director general of the HSE, spoke to the Minister on the Sunday after the decision was made and asked him to walk it back This was before a Cabinet meeting on the following Tuesday at which the decision was for- mally endorsed and when a presentation was made Were Ministers aware of all of that detail, the warnings and official advice against the decision to proceed? A number of the statements from the Minister are incorrect There were warnings from very senior people on the day and the day after On 8 May I asked the Taoiseach during Leaders’ Questions if there was the capacity to do the smear tests and if it was the correct official response. That was despite all of the spin that I had allegedly welcomed all of this I asked some clear, pertinent questions on 8 May and what I 639 Dáil Éireann said has been borne out in the fullness of time because Professor Gráinne Flannelly said the de- cision had fundamentally undermined the advice Will the Taoiseach ask the Minister to come to the House and issue a comprehensive statement outlining the sequence of events leading up to the decision, the advice he received and when he received it and correcting the Dáil record as he does so? Will he publish the email sent by CervicalCheck to the Department on the day he made his decision? What is the timeline for the elimination of the backlog? Will the Taoise- ach confirm that the CervicalCheck screening programme can cope with the overload that has resulted and that there is capacity to clear the backlog while continuing with the programme? 09/04/2019B00200The Taoiseach: The most important thing is that we deal with the backlog There is a backlog of approximately 80,000 smear tests waiting to be examined While the clinical risk is negligible, there are, of course, lots of women who are very concerned about their test result and have been waiting a long time for it We need to deal with that issue Some women are getting their result back within four weeks The average is 15 weeks, but, in some cases, it is 33 The Health Service Executive, HSE, and the National Cancer Screening Service have been doing a lot of work to try to find laboratories that would be willing to take on additional tests. They have sourced capacity, but they need to spec the laboratories and come to commercial arrangements with them to take on the additional tests Given the litigious environment in Ireland, among other things, it can be difficult to get laboratories to agree to take on additional tests, but the HSE has identified laboratories that may be willing to take on the additional tests, subject to a commercial agreement and an agreement on liability should there be future claims The Minister for Health will be before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health tomorrow when I am sure Deputies will take the opportunity to ask him questions I am absolutely con- fident that he will be willing to answer any question he has not answered already. In my view, he has answered the questions already There was indeed advice from CervicalCheck after the announcement had been made, albeit on the day I think the email to which the Deputy referred has been published I certainly heard the party’s spokesperson quoting from it----- 09/04/2019B00300Deputy Micheál Martin: No, it has not 09/04/2019B00400The Taoiseach: It was sent after the announcement had been made, not prior to it, and it was sent by a staff member in CervicalCheck to an official in the Department. It did not go, as the Deputy claims, to the Minister for Health The advice from the chief medical officer, CMO, was reflected in the decision made by the Minister for Health which was subsequently endorsed by the Government If the Deputy refers to the statement released on 28 April 2018, it states: “For any woman who has had a Cervi- calCheck smear test and where her GP feels she should have a further test as part of her reas- surance,