Minister for Health Mary Harney was politically accountable for the manner in which women undergoing cancer tests had been treated, Labour spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan claimed. She said that her party had tabled a motion of no confidence in the Minister, because the women, and their families, who had suffered so appallingly, were entitled to have their health and their lives taken seriously enough for someone to take responsibility.
"If political accountability is to mean anything, then Ms Harney must accept overall responsibility for the way in which these women were treated.
"Of course, she is not responsible for the misdiagnosis. But she set up the system that has become so focused on itself rather than the patient that, incredibly, it ended up telling the Oireachtas Health Committee before it told the women themselves that they, 97 human beings who had been told they were clear of cancer, had to be recalled and may, after all, have had the disease when they were referred for tests. "
Ms O'Sullivan asked how it had appeared more important to protect the system by telling the committee than to protect the women by telling them first.
"How could it have happened that, 24 hours later, when the Minister and the nation knew, that those women had still not got a phone call? How could counselling not have been put in place as promised and how could the helpline not be staffed with sufficient personnel to stop it from being swamped?"
Ms O'Sullivan said that the Minister could have three highly-paid advisers on her staff, but only two cancer care nurses could be found to staff the helpline. She acknowledged that the Minister did not know any sooner than she did that 97 women were to be recalled for ultra-sound review.
"But she should have. She is the Minister. " It was her party's job, she said, to hold the Minister and the HSE to account.
"We would be letting down the brave women, like Rebecca O'Malley and Susie Long, the midlands woman who spoke with her back to the camera to protect her family, the mother of four from Kildare who was one of the nine whose mammography was misdiagnosed and who has had surgery if we did not speak out as strongly as we can. They were brave enough to do it . . . so should we be." Ms O'Sullivan said that Labour was not questioning Mary Harney's integrity or her commitment.
"She is an eloquent and persuasive speaker and believes in what she is doing. But that is part of the problem. She has the ability to persuade others that she is right and, despite the fact that her party only got 2 per cent of the votes, no one in Fianna Fáil or the Greens is willing to take the job."
The HSE should never have been set up in its cumbersome, centralised form, said Ms O'Sullivan. There needed to be reform, with layers of management taken out and lines of accountability clearly defined, including that of the Minister.
Ms O'Sullivan said she hoped there would be some in the ranks of the Independents or on the Fianna Fáil backbenches, "who have been happy to engage in whispered criticisms of Ms Harney in the corridors of Leinster House", to live up the courage of their convictions and support the motion.
