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Majority of women choose court rather than CervicalCheck Tribunal

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claim”. One case was struck out when an “unless order” came into e ect and three cases “remain pending and are at an advanced stage in the proceedings”. A total of 385 claims have been submitted to the

State Claims Agency in relation to CervicalCheck. Four claims were received between 2014 and 2017; 86 were received in 2018; 52 in 2019; 95 in 2020; and 103 in 2021.

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Last year, 39 claims were received, while a further six have been lodged with the courts this year through the National Incident Management System (NIMS) hosted by the State Claims Agency.

Mr Tóibín branded the tribunal “deeply awed”.

He said: “ e Taoiseach at the time that this scandal broke said that no woman would be forced to go through the courts.

“And yet that is what continues to happen. Time and time again, we see women on death’s door still battling in court.

“It is clear that (Stephen) Donnelly was wrong to ignore the concerns of the 221 Plus patient support group when he ploughed ahead with the establishment of a deeply awed tribunal.”

Patient advocacy groups have complained the courts process can be arduous for women, some of whom may be particularly ill, or traumatising for their families who take claims on their behalf. e courts process can also be unduly lengthy.

A court last month heard a woman suing over HSE CervicalCheck slides had died.

A number of high-pro le women with cervical cancer who went to court over CervicalCheck have died, including Ms Phelan, who exposed the scandal, as well as Lynsey Bennett and Emma Mhic Mhathúna.

Ms Phelan reached a €2.5m settlement without an admission of liability with US rm Clinical Pathology Laboratories in the High Court in April 2018.

Mother-of-two Ms Phelan had a smear test in 2011 which showed no abnormalities but an audit in 2014 found the results were incorrect.

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