State has paid nearly €19 million in relation to CervicalCheck claims, with dozens still ongoing

THE STATE CLAIMS Agency has paid €18.9 million in relation to claims arising from the CervicalCheck controversy, new figures show.

Some €6.6 million of this was paid in damages, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (C&AG) annual report, published today.

The report shows that 411 claims relating to the HSE’s CervicalCheck programme had been notified to the State Claims Agency (SCA) by the end of last year, up from 402 a year earlier.

This includes 86 psychological injury claims taken by family members of women who had participated in the screening programme.

The CervicalCheck controversy emerged in 2018 following the case of Vicky Phelan, who had been diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014.

A subsequent clinical audit found that her 2011 smear test, which had originally been reported as normal, should have prompted further investigation. However, Phelan was not informed of the audit finding until 2017.

It subsequently emerged that other women who developed cervical cancer had also not been told about reviews of their earlier screening tests.

An inquiry led by Dr Gabriel Scally later found there had been no system in place to ensure that women were actually informed of the results of these audits. 

The C&AG said the claims now being handled by the SCA have primarily been taken against the laboratories which read the screening tests and against the HSE over the failure to disclose clinical audit results.

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The laboratories are contractually required to indemnify the State, meaning they can be liable for the cost of claims against the State relating to their work.

Where possible, the SCA offers mediation in an effort to settle cases without going through an adversarial court process.

A total of 30 CervicalCheck claims were concluded during 2025, bringing the total number dealt with by the end of the year to 337, or 82% of all claims notified to the agency.

This meant that a total of 74 CervicalCheck claims remained ongoing at the end of last year.

The SCA had paid €18.9 million in relation to the claims by that point, including €6.6 million in damages.

However, the true overall cost of the litigation is higher.

The SCA is not told how much the laboratories pay when they settle claims themselves, meaning it cannot put a figure on the total amount paid across all 411 cases. 

The CervicalCheck figures are contained in the C&AG’s examination of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), which operates as the State Claims Agency when handling claims on behalf of the State.

Across all areas, the SCA paid €513 million in settlements, awards and other expenses during 2025, slightly down from €521 million the previous year.

It was still managing 10,658 claims at the end of 2025, with the estimated cost of settling outstanding claims standing at €5.46 billion.

Clinical claims accounted for €4.43 billion of this.