Irish Examiner view: State apology shows people power works

CervicalCheck controversy

There was no reason to doubt the Taoiseach’s sincerity when he offered a “genuine and heartfelt apology” on behalf of the Government and the State to Patricia Carrick, a woman whose cancer would not be terminal if CervicalCheck had not misread her slide in 2016. Picture:  Ciarán MacChoncarraige

A sincere apology can send a potent message. It acknowledges a wrong, goes some way towards atoning for it, and, when it is delivered in the political arena, as Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s unprecedented apology to a terminally ill woman was on Tuesday, it can set the scene for real change.

And there was no reason to doubt the Taoiseach’s sincerity when he offered a “genuine and heartfelt apology” on behalf of the Government and the State to Patricia Carrick, a woman whose cancer would not be terminal if CervicalCheck had not misread her slide in 2016.

“You have been failed, badly let down,” he said, apologising to Ms Carrick, her husband Damien, and their four children whom he mentioned by name. Mr Martin's statement follows the unprecedented apology and admission of negligence from the HSE and from the laboratory that misread her test.

The only pity is that it had to come to this. It is shameful that Ms Carrick and other CervicalCheck survivors had to expose the depth of their suffering in public before the State finally took notice.

This week’s apology, while welcome, must be followed with action. Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar admitted he was wrong to promise, in 2018, that no other woman affected would have to go to trial. Now, the Government must say what measures are possible and then follow through.

Call for legislation

Mr Carrick has outlined one item for that agenda in calling for legislation to allow women to sue so that they can make provision for their children after they are gone. The Government must also address reservations raised by support group 221+ about a CervicalCheck tribunal.

It says something that cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan feels she needs to continue to fight to see that the tribunal is fit for purpose at a time when she is facing a diagnosis of a new tumour. Terminally ill women should not have to keep a watchful eye on government to ensure it does the right thing.

Yet, as we have also seen in recent days, it is the people most hurt by this State who are forced to stand up and demand action. The backlash to the Mother and Baby Homes Bill is a case in point. The Government was forced into a U-turn to allow survivors access to their own records.

There will be challenges on the path ahead but it is possible, as other countries have shown, to set up a legal framework to make sure that information about abuse, forced adoption, and alleged vaccine trials are not locked in an archive beyond reach.

It is time for truth, reconciliation, and, perhaps most importantly, consultation. If the recent groundswell of support for mother and baby home survivors and adoptees tells us anything, it is that Government decisions impinge deeply on the lives of real people.

There is a positive in all of this. Ordinary people’s voices are being heard not just here but elsewhere. In Poland, for instance, the largest street protests since the fall of communism forced that country’s government to stall the implementation of a court ruling that effectively bans abortion.

Governments ignore 'people power' at their peril.