A leading campaigner in the CervicalCheck scandal has quit a key oversight committee in frustration at how a review of women’s smear tests was conducted.

Simon Harris had promised that a new policy to remunerate and support patient advocates who give up their time to sit on boards and steering committees would be published by the end of this month at the very latest.

CervicalCheck campaigners have criticised the pace of change in the health service on the same day that a “watershed” State apology was delivered in the Dáil.

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.

Once upon a time, we put our unquestioning trust in our doctors, in our healthcare service. But a revolution has been happening, quietly, unstoppable.

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.

The CervicalCheck scandal was symbolic of a health system tottering towards something that looks like the edge of collapse. Accountability and transparency were in short supply.

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.

A request from CervicalCheck patient representatives for the establishment of a paid patient advocacy programme has not received any “meaningful” response from the Department of Health four months after the appeal was made.

Stephen Teap tells Health Correspondent Catherine Shanahan how the family has fared since his wife Irene's death two years ago.

'Close family friend' Niall Power has become the second man sentenced to life in prison, after admitting to the murder of mother-of-three Irene White in her Co Louth home.

A tribunal to deal with CervicalCheck claims will not begin hearing cases until the Supreme Court rules on a High Court judgment involving a woman terminally ill with cervical cancer.

A support group for victims of the CervicalCheck scandal is welcoming the decision by Cabinet to approve a bill allowing a tribunal to be set up for affected women.

Arlene Harris talks to three men about their delight in being parents to growing children and how they deal with the difficulties of single or sole fatherhood.

Gabriel Scally has hit out at the Government for “exploiting” patient advocates who give up their time to help improve and transform the health sector.

A second report by Dr Gabriel Scally into the testing controversy has found further outsourcing of slides, which neither the HSE nor the national cancer screening programme was aware of.

Eve Kelliher makes the French connection by visiting a unique outdoor sculpture exhibition in Normandy.

A nun who only speaks for an hour a day due to a vow of silence has until December to find a new home after being brought to court by Cork County Council over an alleged breach of planning laws.

The interim head of screening at the National Screening Service has written to women caught up in the CervicalCheck scandal outlining what they can expect if they sign up to an ex gratia scheme — but patient representatives said the main reaction was one of disappointment.

A father of two who has advocated for improved cancer screening after his wife died of cervical cancer has appealed to the public to take part in Irish Cancer Society family fun runs this summer.

Victims of the CervicalCheck scandal are pleading for other women to be spared the ordeal that a terminally-ill cancer patient was put through, to win her landmark compensation case.

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.

At just 25 years old, David Beirne's life was turned upside-down when he was diagnosed with kidney failure.

The establishment of an independent statutory tribunal to deal with claims arising from the CervicalCheck scandal has been delayed by Brexit, it has emerged.

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

Just one in five health and social care workers has been formally briefed on the HSE’s open disclosure policy, and only one in 25 has attended a training workshop — five years after patients were assured the policy would be standard practice.

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 festival, which runs from November 9-18, will showcase Irish and international films with a focus on current global issues.

A father of two who has advocated for improved cancer screening after it emerged that his wife died arising out of deficiencies in CervicalCheck has received the Irish Tatler magazine man of the year award.

Patient advocates Vicky Phelan and Stephen Teap have warned that the Government is trying to delay a review into CervicalCheck smear tests as it will show that up to another 200 women were misdiagnosed.

The Government has denied being “cold and callous” by setting a cut-off point to compensate expenses incurred by victims affected by the CervicalCheck scandal.

The HSE has finally supplied the head of the CervicalCheck probe with the information he needs to conduct his inquiry two months after he was appointed to the job.

The CervicalCheck scoping inquiry has been severely hampered by the failure of state bodies to supply it with legible documentation, leading to accusations of deliberate obstruction.

A father of four who died following an assault in Mitchelstown, Co Cork was remembered as a "one in a million family man" who loved a good chat and had a hearty laugh, his requiem mass in his native Ballindangan heard today.

The husband of Irene Teap, who died after two false negative cervical checks, has released a picture of her supporting the Repeal the Eighth movement.

“If I do die, I do not want it to be in vain.”

CervicalCheck refused to provide information to two concerned women who directly contacted the service in 2016, it has been revealed.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris are protecting an “old boys’ club” which runs this State despite it costing the lives of women, the Dáil has heard.

Irene Teap is one of 17 women who died after receiving incorrect results.