CervicalCheck debacle: Men’s regrets as women suffer

The head of the HSE, Tony O’Brien, has described the CervicalCheck debacle as a “personal blow”, noting he had started his career in BreastCheck.

Mr O’Brien also revealed he felt “significantly unhappy” that he first learned of the scandal from the media.

“I feel let down by the fact that I wasn’t aware,” he said.

So, the man who — to borrow the Taoiseach’s description — has overseen one the biggest medical “cock-ups” since the hepatitis C scandal has suffered a “personal blow”, is “significantly unhappy” and “feels let down”.

It’s a pity about him. As Fine Gael TD Kate O’Donnell told him at the committee hearing: “This is not about you. You are the last person this is about.”

She might also with to take issue with Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris for issuing similar self-centred responses to the crisis. At a Cabinet meeting on Monday the Taoiseach said he was “furious” at the decision by the HSE to withold cancer screening information from patients. Similarly, Mr Harris declared himself to be “mad as hell” over the unfolding controversy.

In common with the 1,000 mothers who developed hepatitis C from contaminated blood, the CervicalCheck scandal is about women. The feelings of the Taoiseach,

Mr Harris and Tony O’Brien do not come in to it. It is not about them.