Department of Health spends €1.6m on CervicalCheck Tribunal offices

Health minister Stephen Donnelly. PIcture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The Department of Health incurred a cost of €1.6m for the fit-out of offices for use by the CervicalCheck Tribunal, which has received just eight claims so far.

The tribunal, which was set up by Government as an alternative means for women affected by the CervicalCheck scandal and their families to seek redress outside of court, also incurred operating costs of €217,123 last year and €277,176 in staffing costs up to March 2021.

The leasehold for the area of the building it occupies accounted for €303,144 per annum, plus service charges of €112,315.

The figures are provided in the 2020 annual report of the CervicalCheck Tribunal, which was published yesterday by the Department of Health.

The tribunal was established despite significant concerns being expressed by the 221+ support group, representing many of those affected by the receipt of incorrect smear test results.

There have been over 310 cases brought against the State relating to the alleged misreading of smear tests.

Most opted not to go through the tribunal process established by the Government, which has been open for claims since December 1, 2020.

An appendix to the report noted that as of October 2021, just eight claims were received, which were a combination of claims transferred from the High Court and new claims.

The report itself raised concerns around the role of the facilitator in the tribunal. Under the act establishing the tribunal, a facilitator helps to set out how a claimant can seek a meeting to detail their experiences, dubbed ‘restoration of trust’ meetings.

These meetings are proposed to document a person’s experiences, facilitate discussion, and provide information for the appropriate persons in respect of their experience of CervicalCheck.

Under the act, the facilitator of this process is meant to be independent of the tribunal, and appointed by the minister. However, within that same act, it sets out that this facilitator can also nominate a member of tribunal staff to be the holder of records of these meetings, which are to be confidential.

The report from the tribunal raised concerns over how such a facilitator can be independent if they are to hand over records of such meetings to a staff member of the tribunal itself. The two should be reconciled, it said.

In terms of staffing, the report noted that while the position of legal secretary is unfilled, it cannot be justified from a costs’ perspective, given the low number of claims at this time.

The report also proposed the use of the tribunal’s facilities to those involved in litigation arising from the cervical screening programme “in the event that those parties indicate a wish to pursue an alternative dispute resolution process, such as mediation”.