The government has been accused of incompetence and giving in to panic for offering free cervical smear test re-checks.
(Source: www.pixabay.com)It's after it emerged that senior clinicians warned the decision would undermine the screening service before it went ahead.
Former clinical director of Cervical Check Grainne Flannelly warned against offering free re-checks just hours before the decision was made, saying it would lead to massive delays in smears being processed.
That has come to pass, with nearly 80,000 women waiting for their results and some women waiting up to 33 weeks for their results.
However Health Minister Simon Harris has denied he was told about Grainne Flannelly's concerns at the time.
"I never received any contrary advice in relation to the provision of free repeat smear tests," he said.
Now Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin have clashed in the Dáil over the issue.
Mr Varadkar said: "The damage to the programme wasn't done by the Minister for Health, I think the damage to the programme was done by the non-disclosure scandal."
However Deputy Martin hit back at the decision to offer the free re-tests: "The whole decision reeked of incompetence, of panic, and had no public health criteria to justify it."
