Neil Michael: Taoiseach's genuine apology to dying woman the real drama of Dáil

Patricia Carrick. As we endure our new lives in the pandemic, it is all too easy to forget there are those who are not just dealing with that, but they are also living with the dire consequences of the CervicalCheck debacle. Photo taken by her son Ciarán MacChoncarraige

When Taoiseach Micheál Martin rose to his feet in the Dáil at 2pm today, a dying woman was being held closely in a hospital bed 200km away. By Patricia Carrick's side was her devoted husband, Damien.

He had arrived there just 15 minutes beforehand with a tablet on which they could both watch the statement read out live.

A phonecall Mr Martin made to Damien just last Friday led to that apology being read out by the Taoiseach to the 51-year-old mother-of-four who is terminally ill after her cancer was missed by CervicalCheck.

There had been no warning to anyone other than the Carrick family, and a few of the Taoiseach’s most trusted aides, that he was going to make it.

Indeed, most TDs turning up for proceedings today were there to see Leo Varadkar later explain what he did or didn’t do with an IMO contract, and why he did or didn’t do it.

As far as the order of business was concerned, he was the main attraction, as billed.

After all, who doesn’t want to see senior politicians account for their actions?

But, in what was an unprecedented move, Mr Martin suddenly started talking about a call he had had last Friday with Damien.

He revealed he had been asked if he would stand up in the Dáil and apologise to Patricia on behalf of the State.

And so began his introduction to Patricia - or ‘Trish’ as she is affectionately called by her friends and family.

Many of the TDs listening cannot have helped but note the interesting dynamic unfolding before them.

Here was Mr Martin apologising to a dying woman for something that was not of his making and that had happened under a previous government.

It may well be unprecedented for a sitting Taoiseach to stand up and make an apology to a named individual in the Dáil.

And then later, there was the sight of Leo Varadkar getting up to explain to the house something that was very much his own making.  There was someone doing what he had little choice but to do for himself and his own ends.

However important it would have been for the Tánaiste, to onlookers, it was probably little more than another day of drama playing out in the somewhat rarified world of Leinster House.

And while that unfolds on any given day, the rest of us are busy trying to get on with our lives under the seemingly endless round of lockdowns and restrictions.

But as we endure our new lives in the pandemic, it is all too easy to forget there are those who are not just dealing with that, but they are also living with the dire consequences of the CervicalCheck debacle.

Just a day ago, Vicky Phelan - whose case sparked the entire screening controversy - revealed her cancer had returned.

But while Ms Phelan is very much the face of this whole screening controversy, Trish Carrick’s husband - who speaks and acts on her behalf - has reminded us of the other, not so well known women who still suffer.

And in doing the decent thing - apologising very quickly after being asked and with remarkably little fuss beforehand - perhaps Mr Martin has also reached out to the other Patricia Carricks out there.

Maybe he has also reminded us, by acknowledging Patricia’s suffering, that while we may think life is tough in a national lockdown, there are those among us who also have to struggle through it with additional and unimaginable pain and suffering.

There is also something else from his statement that does bear thinking about.

It may well be unprecedented for a sitting Taoiseach to stand up and make an apology to a named individual in the Dáil.

But what is quite refreshing here is that none of the political lobby appears to have been tipped off in advance that he was going to make the statement.

And that goes a long way to underlining that it was a genuine and sincere apology.

And that’s a rare thing to see in this day and age.