Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris have been forced to deny CervicalCheck officials warned them that offering free smear test re-checks would severely damage the service - accusing critics of being involved in "revisionism". At a media briefing in Dublin, Health Minister Simon Harris said "the facts don't change" and insisted he was never told not to go ahead with the free smear test re-checks scheme. Mr Martin said the evidence shows "the decision by the Minister for Health to offer free tests has now clearly damaged the programme". He called on Mr Varadkar to order Mr Harris to appear before the Dáil to answer more questions. However, Mr Varadkar rejected the demand, saying: "The damage to the programme wasn't done by the Minister, but by the non-disclosure scandal.

Source: Irish Examiner April 03, 2019 16:30 UTC