One of the county’s newest councilors announced her arrival in convincing fashion this week when she emphatically laid bare the concerns sweeping the country regarding the cervical checks controversy.
Other more experienced Council members could take a leaf out of the book of Cllr Aisling Moran for the thorough manner in which she researched and presented her motions.
She was not only convincing but gave an early indication that she is her own woman, got elected in her own right and is not operating in the shadow of her retired father, the previously long serving and universally popular John Moran.
The cervical checks issue was one of a trio of motions tabled by Cllr Moran for the final Council meeting before the summer recess. She received unanimous support from other councilors and on this issue in particular from her party colleagues Cllr Conor Bergin and Cllr Mary Sweeney.
Cllr Moran was asking the Minister for Health Simon Harris to investigate the possibility of having all cervical checks linked to hospitals in Ireland instead of outsourcing and “putting a price on women’s lives” in light of the recent IT glitches where a significant number of women did not receive their test results.
From the outset Cllr Moran asserted that the cervical checks concerns was not just a women’s issue and the public required answers and deserved accountability.
“Firstly, I would like to clarify that cervical check is not just a woman’s issue.
“We all have a mother, some of us have sisters, daughters, granddaughters, wives, nieces and friends.
“And all over this country in every county, there are men, women and children of all ages, crying as they sit by hospital beds and standing by grave sides because of misread results, IT Glitches and out of date sampling kits.”
She said there was a more thorough and verifiable system of clinical governance and accountability for having a mole removed and checked than for a cervical test.
“Where is the clinical governance for the Cervical Cells of the thousands of Irish women that are sent to labs in Ireland, Europe and half way around the world in the United States?
“Who is responsible? This lack of accountability is costing the lives of Irish women, who thought they were looking after their health by attending their GP for a cervical check. Why are we tolerating this fiasco?
“An IT glitch might have been tolerated in the 1980s, maybe even the 1990s but surely not today, not in 2019,” she insisted.
“Who is responsible for the latest IT glitch? Was it the system? Was it the programmers? Was it the person inputting the information? Was it the computer? We don’t know.
“Every step in the Cervical Check process needs to be accounted for by someone, but it is not happening.
“By not addressing this lack of governance, we as public representatives are letting down all the women that have died, the women who are dying and the women that do not know their fate yet.
“We are sitting back and letting this system fail our citizens,” continued Cllr Moran in a submission that clearly moved her colleagues.
“We need for women to be able to trust the system again and to do that, Mandatory Open Disclosure is an absolute priority.
“So I am asking this Council to demand a response from Minister Harris to the questions asked here today; to look into the possibility of testing the Cervical Cells in labs in our own country; to make Mandatory Open Disclosure a priority, and to make sure there is proper clinical governance every step of the way,” she concluded.
Cllr Mary Sweeney agreed that the cervical checks flaws should have been prevented from the outset.
Cllr Conor Bergin too was appalled at the scale of the scandal, but he reminded the meeting of the importance of screening to try eradicate cervical cancer deaths.
“There is no doubt of the scale of this scandal or the scale and impact of the pain and suffering it has caused. Before cervical screening was introduced in Ireland we had the highest incidence of cervical cancer in Europe.
“We are now in a place where the Minister for Health has a target to eradicate this killer disease within a generation through vaccinations and HPV testing.
“Quality assurance and standards, governance both clinical and financial must be to the fore when dealing with the health of a nation and people’s lives,” said Cllr Bergin.
SEE ALSO – A clean sweep for Cllr Moran at first Municipal meeting
