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Fianna Fáil 'taken aback' at Simon Harris' comments on CervicalCheck team

The Taoiseach has been forced to defend the Minister for Health after he was accused of trying to "destroy the reputation" of the CervicalCheck team.

As 78,000 women continue to wait 27 weeks for smear test results, Leo Varadkar defended a decision made last year to provide free out-of-cycle checks to all women.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said he had been "taken aback" by an attack on staff in the screening service which Simon Harris launched in a radio interview over the weekend.

Simon Harris

"The degree to which the Minister dumped on the team last Saturday morning and attempted to destroy its reputation is unacceptable and mean-spirited. One cannot destroy the reputation and work of people who have committed to the programme for more than a decade. Many people in the medical world are dismayed at the cavalier dismissal of people who have worked in the field for a considerable time," said Mr Martin.

While Mr Varadkar acknowledged the work done by the cancer screening programme, he said they "also made a lot of mistakes” including carrying out a “botched audit, which had significant retrospection bias and then (they) did not share information about the audit with the women affected”.

Mr Varadkar refused to provide a date for the rollout of a new HPV test as he said promises had been made in the past but not met.

Separately the Taoiseach said the Government will consider an independent inquiry to investigate failings in children's audiology services.

The HSE has been forced to apologise to around 60 families in the west of Ireland for failing to provide proper services to children with hearing difficulties.

During leaders questions, the Taoiseach laid the blame for the mistakes on the medical staff after Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald suggested that Fianna Fáil is happy to allow the Minister for Health and the Government to "evade accountability for the many failures in our services".

But Mr Varadkar said the clinician who carried out the hearing tests and either failed to diagnose, or to ensure that the children got the proper follow up, was "very obviously" responsible.

He said Ms McDonald was trying to turn the issue into a political attack but this "is not about Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael or Micheál Martin or Simon Harris" and instead it was about the clinician involved.

The problem was identified internally. The HSE assistant clinical lead for audiology services identified the problem and acted on it and I understand the people who made the mistakes are no longer working for our public health service and there are appropriate professional bodies that register people and can sanction them and strike them off," the Taoiseach said.

Solidarity-PBP TD Bríd Smith questioned the Taoiseach on the Government's record around climate change and urged him to ban the further issuing of fossil fuel exploration licences off our shores.

But Mr Varadkar said: "The truth is that we will need natural gas and oil as transition fuels for the foreseeable future, whether to fuel aircraft so that they can fly, to produce plastics necessary for medical devices, or to power our towns, cities and industries when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining."

He added that Minister Richard Bruton would soon publish an action plan on climate change.

Watch: SF9’s Chani And Rowoon Are Taken Aback By Reality In “Amazing Saturday” Preview

SF9’s Chani and Rowoon will be the next guests on tvN’s “Amazing Saturday”!

On February 16, the variety show released a preview of the two idols.

In the video, the cast and guests are full of laughter as ominous music plays in the background. “I thought that this was a place full of laughter and happiness,” says the words on the screen. “However, that is your dream. Reality and dreams are different.”

Rowoon says that he’s a huge fan of the show., but when he reveals that he got the majority of the questions correct, the cast members voice skepticism about his actual skills. Like his fellow member, Chani also has strong confidence in his skills and says that he has a good feeling about this. When the answer for a question is revealed on the screen, Girl’s Day’s Hyeri and Shin Dong Yup poke fun at his earlier statements.

MC Boom asks Rowoon if everything is going according to his expectations, and the SF9 member replies, “It is really turning out the completely opposite way.”

Catch Chani and Rowoon on the next episode of “Amazing Saturday” on February 23 at 7:40 p.m. KST.

Watch the preview below!

In the meantime, start watching Chani in his latest drama “SKY Castle” now:

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Howard Schultz Laments the Blowback on His Possible 2020 Run: The ‘Resistance’ Has Taken Me and My Wife Aback

Former Starbucks CEO and possible presidential candidate Howard Schultz says he and his wife were startled by the harsh blowback from members of the “Resistance” to his announcement that he will run as an Independent in 2020.

In an interview with SiriusXM, Schultz and his wife Sheri said they expected some criticism but not the amount of “acute” backlash they had been receiving thus far.

“I think the extent of it has taken us back a bit,” he said. “But I think any time you try and go against the grain and take the road less travelled and challenge the status quo – actually, that’s something I’ve been doing my whole life, but not at this level – clearly we’re going to have some resistance.”

Sheri Schultz added that she tries to be “present” and take things “one day at a time.”

“The best way that I can articulate my conversations with Howard about this are… for Howard to speak from his heart,” said Mrs. Schultz, when asked about conversations with her husband over his presidential bid. “He’s always been driven by it.  It’s how he started a company, it’s how he turned it into a global business, and that’s when you get the best of Howard.”

Schultz’s interview will air in full Tuesday night on SiriusXM’s Insight channel 121 at 6:00 p.m. ET. Watch the preview above.