The Million Woman March

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he horror of it is, no one knows how deep this scandal actually goes…

Is it 3,000 women in Ireland who may have been given a false all-clear on their smear tests, or are there more…?

Ireland’s CervicalCheck scandal first came to light with the case of Limerick mother-of-two Vicky Phelan, given the all-clear after a smear test in 2011 that was then revealed to be negative during an audit in 2014. It would be two years later before Vicky’s doctor was informed, and a further year before he would inform his patient.

That a subsequent court case saw Vicky Phelan being award €2.5m in damages hardly compensates for the fact that, in January of this year, the mother-of-two was told that she had between six months and a year to live.

Just how many of these stories are going to play out in Ireland over the coming months and years is hard to know, but, even just this one tragic case is enough to have the country up in arms.

With Protest Cervical Check having organised a protest outside Dáil Éireann for this Saturday, May 19th, at noon, a trio of local women – Orla Leonard, Pyper Ludlow and Chris Allen – are calling on the people of Greystones to gather on Sunday, 2pm, at the South Beach car park, for a march through the town.

We caught up with Pyper and Orla this afternoon, down at that South Beach car park, to find out more…

You can find out more about Sunday’s march in Greystones right here.