Minister for Health Simon Harris has denied he displayed “a lack of empathy” with the women impacted by the CervicalCheck scandal who recently learned that they had received incorrect results.

Nóirín Russell says impossible expectations are forcing doctors to consider quitting the service

The review of 1,034 women's CervicalCheck slides has found that in around 30% of cases, it recorded a different result to the original finding.

The dilemma facing doctors when it comes to being upfront with patients is captured in a new survey which found that one in five has been in a situation where they felt unable to apologise — even when the patient or their family expected an apology.

Naomi Wolf had promised that the two pages identified as flawed would be corrected, writes Terry Prone.

The Taoiseach has addressed the Dáil and has made a formal State apology for the "the humiliation, the disrespect and the deceit" to the women and families impacted by the CervicalCheck controversy.

The Taoiseach is to apologise to all the women and their families who have been impacted by the CervicalCheck scandal in the Dáil next week.

A lab firm being sued in the High Court by a number of women concerning alleged failings in the HSE’s CervicalCheck programme last year increased its revenues here by 12% to €9.238m.

Stephen Teap found himself a grieving single dad to two small boys, holding down his job with Volvo, all while being caught up in the highly public eye of the CervicalCheck storm, when his wife Irene died of cervical cancer following two misread smear tests that could have saved her life.

CervicalCheck is beginning to function as normal, with waiting times for smear results largely down to seven weeks from a record high of 33 weeks, when the smear test backlog hit 80,000.

This includes payments to lawyers, a communications agency and doctors.

So that’s Wednesday nearly wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

Health Minister Simon Harris confirmed the apology after he and the Taoiseach met with members of the 221+ CervicalCheck patient support group.

A “huge communications failure” is how the latest CervicalCheck scandal, which left thousands of women in the dark for months about their test results, is described in a damning report.

HSE chief executive Paul Reid has apologised to the thousands of women affected by delays in their cervical smear test results.

CervicalCheck patient representatives say they cannot give reassurances to women to have faith in the screening programme.

The HSE has revised upwards the number of women affected by the latest CervicalCheck controversy.

The Chairperson of the CervicalCheck rapid review has said he has started investigating the latest CervicalCheck scandal.

Women involved in the latest CervicalCheck scandal are losing faith in the system and want answers, that’s according to ‘Sharon’, the woman who revealed the most recent problem with communications within the service.

Minister for Health Simon Harris has said it is “highly regrettable” that patient representatives were kept in the dark on the latest CervicalCheck controversy.

A key member of a committee set up to drive change in the national cervical cancer screening programme is considering quitting because she no longer has faith in it.

The public health doctor who investigated the CervicalCheck controversy said he could not find any "grace or compassion" anywhere.

The Cabinet signed off on the ex-gratia payments this evening.

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he is "very happy" to offer a full apology to women affected by the CervicalCheck.scandal.

The women and families impacted by the CervicalCheck scandal say they are still awaiting an apology from the State a year after the scandal broke.

A report examining the scale of outsourcing of smear tests by laboratories contracted to do the work by the HSE will be brought to the Cabinet today.

US laboratory Quest Diagnostics today confirmed before the High Court it is to appeal the landmark judgement in the case of terminally ill Ruth Morrissey who last week was awarded €2.1m.

While a number of women, including the celebrated campaigner Vicky Phelan, have reached settlements against the HSE and laboratories for inadequate smear testing, the case taken by Limerick woman Ruth Morrissey is the first to have been heard in full in the High Court.

Cervical cancer campaigner Stephen Teap is calling on the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to see if there is any way the State can step in and streamline the process under which cervical cancer victims have to take legal proceedings.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross said Ruth Morrissey’s life had been ruined and she has suffered a life sentence which she is fully aware is expected to take effect within two years and for which there is no reasonable prospect of a reprieve.

Terminally ill Ruth Morrissey and her husband Paul who sued over her CervicalCheck smear tests were today awarded a total of €2.1m by the High Court in her landmark action.

A High Court judge will tomorrow morning hand down judgement in the case of terminally ill Ruth Morrissey who has sued the HSE and two US laboratories over the alleged misreading of her CervicalCheck smear slides.

As the health service was engulfed by the scandal over the CervicalCheck screening programme, top medics and officials wanted that there wasn’t capacity to deal with the crisis while also maintaining the service’s normal operation, writes Health Correspondent Catherine Shanahan.

A solicitor representing CervicalCheck victims has questioned if halting the smear test audit a year ago was an attempt to “put a lid” on the number of women affected by the scandal.

A mother of two who is terminally ill with cancer and who sued in relation to the alleged misinterpretation of her CervicalCheck smear slide today settled her case for €2.5m.

The national director of the HSE’s screening service will be quizzed today about the 33 week wait for the return of cervical screening results.

The High Court judge hearing the action by terminally ill Ruth Morrissey against the HSE and two US laboratories over the alleged misreading of her CervicalCheck smear slides hopes to give his judgement in the test case in early May.

This is the question no one wants to have to ask when faced with concerning health results.

The HSE has begun contacting up to 6,000 women, by phone and letter, about having a repeat cervical smear test because of delays in processing their original samples.

"Many of us got to meet and know Orla in the past months and she was just such a wonderfully courageous, strong and inspiring person."

Free smear tests announced by the Government during the CervicalCheck crisis are set to cost €10m, the Public Accounts Committee has been told.

By accusing Health Minister Simon Harris of being a ‘little boy’ during the CervicalCheck scandal, Tony O’Brien placed himself in the schoolyard, writes Gerard Howlin

Health Minister Simon Harris has hit back at criticisms levelled at him by the former HSE chief, saying Tony O’Brien took the “right decision” to step down.

The number of women hit by the CervicalCheck crisis is expected to rise upon completion of an ongoing review by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG).