‘No records exist’ on timing of cancer reports

NOT a single record exists to explain why the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive (HSE) decided to publish three reports on the cancer-screening crisis on the same day.

After a long delay, the department published two of the reports, and the HSE the third, on March 5 last. This coincided with the verdict in the Brian Kearney murder trial, in which he was found guilty of murdering his wife Siobhan.

The trial attracted much news coverage on the day and some Opposition members were privately suspicious about the timing of the reports’ publication. However, not a single paper record exists to explain why the department and the HSE chose to publish the reports on the day in question. The Irish Examiner applied under the Freedom of Information Act for any documentation concerning the decision to release the reports on March 5.