Cervical smear test campaigner Stephen Teap has won Cork Person of the Year for 2019 and he dedicated the award to his late wife, Irene Teap and all the other women and families affected by the cervical smear debacle. Mr Teap lost his wife Irene (35) to cervical cancer in 2017 after two cervical smear tests were misread, leaving him a widower at the age of 36 to rear two young sons, Oscar and Noah, who were just four and two at the time. Mr Teap said the most important thing for him now is identifying the mistakes made in the past in the case of his late wife and campaigners, such as Vicky Phelan and Lorraine Walsh and the other 400 women affected by the scandal. Also honoured was Fermoy born entrepreneur, philanthropist and founder of Irish Business Against Litter, Dr Tom Kavanagh who received a Hall of Fame Award in recognition of his lifetime contribution to Cork life. Political analyst and historian, John Bowman was made an Honorary Corkman while recently retired Nationwide presenter, Mary Kennedy received a Special Achievement Award for her work on the programme which is made in Cork.

Source: The Irish Times January 17, 2020 19:07 UTC