Stephen Teap has slammed Taoiseach Micheal Martin over the Fianna Fail leader’s ‘so-called apology’ for the death of his wife Irene.
Mr Teap said on Thursday the Government had his spouse’s blood on its hands after settling his High Court complaint against two laboratories and the HSE over test failures.
Later in the evening, the Taoiseach said there was “no defense” to the CervicalCheck controversy and acknowledged the loss of Mr Teap was “devastating”.
Late on Friday evening, Mr Teap retweeted a video clip from Virgin Media’s Tonight program, shared on his Twitter account, showing Mr Martin’s reaction to the case.
The father of two, who has been at the forefront of the CervicalCheck campaign and co-founded the 221+ support group for sufferers, was unfazed by Mr. Martin’s words.
Mr. Teap indicated that he had not heard directly from Mr. Martin and wrote: “AAh, so this was the so-called “apology” from the Taoiseach people have been talking about today. Aren’t I lucky I stumbled across this by accident on Twitter or I would never have heard it,” reports The Mirror.
Irene died of cervical cancer in 2017, months before the CervicalCheck scandal was exposed by Vicky Phelan, 48, who died of the disease last month.
Irene, 35, was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer in September 2015 after receiving negative swab results in 2010 and 2013.
In 2018 it was reported that more than 200 women who used the screening program and were subsequently diagnosed with cancer had not been told that their previous results had been verified or, in some cases, misinterpreted.
Mr. Teap’s lawsuit was settled in a rare case in which two laboratories — Clinical Pathology Laboratories and MedLab Pathology — admitted a breach of their duty of care in misinterpreting tests.
On the steps of the High Court, Mr Teap said: “The blood of my wife and the incredible friends I’ve made who have passed away is on the Government’s hands and those politicians who have failed to listen,” reports The Mirror.
Mr Teap said justice for his wife “preventing the HSE and the laboratories from burying the truth along with her”, adding if the slides were read correctly “she would be alive today”, reports The Mirror.
When asked about his reaction to Virgin Media One’s latest programme, Mr Martin said: “First of all, I fully understand where Stephen Teap is coming from. What happened to him and his family is absolutely devastating. In terms of the CervicalCheck scandal, it shouldn’t have happened, there is no defence for what happened,” reports The Mirror.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.