Ryan Tubridy has paid an emotional tribute to the late Vicky Phelan on the first anniversary of her death.
The CervicalCheck campaigner tragically passed away a year ago today at Milford Hospice in Limerick following a long battle with cancer.
Taking to social media on Tuesday morning, the former RTÉ star shared a photograph of the pair behind-the-scenes on the Late Late Show.
"It's a year since we said farewell to the extraordinary Vicky Phelan," he wrote.
"This photo sums up the side to her that wasn't often seen: playful, funny and kind.
"Thinking of her family and friends today,” he added.
Vicky came to national attention in 2018 when she refused to sign 'a gagging order' after settling her High Court case against a US lab and brought the CervicalCheck scandal into the light.
CervicalCheck Patient Support Group 221+ have issued a statement stating that a year ago today “we woke up to the news that Vicky Phelan, a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend and a fighter had finally been overtaken by the scourge of cervical cancer”.
The statement continues: "Although she had always told us that a day would come when the body would give no more, for many of us with whom she had a shared history, it was a day we couldn’t believe would ever happen.
"Our first thoughts this week are for Ameila and Darragh, her pride and joy, her husband Jim, her mother and father – Gaby and John, her siblings, extended family and friends of whom there are many. For them her absence from their lives every day can’t be replaced.
"But her spirit lives on and it inspires all of us. The first we heard of Vicky Phelan was the day she stood outside a courtroom to say that she would not be silenced over the mistakes and shortcomings of others. She stood up for herself. More significantly she stood up for others.
"Politicians on all sides earlier this year were quick to acknowledge her role in prompting the creation of the Patient Safety Bill – something that she had chased for years, a law that makes open disclosure a mandatory obligation of those charged with the care of a patient in the Irish Health system. Vicky would certainly have enjoyed the moment but only as a stepping stone.
"Likewise, she would have celebrated the recommencement late last month of the processing in Ireland of CervicalCheck samples in the National Cervical Screening Laboratory at the Coombe Hospital, again, something she had campaigned on for a long time.
"These, and the reforms of CervicalCheck guided by the recommendations of the Scally Report – which was commissioned in response to her revelations – are real changes that will benefit tens of thousands of Irish women for years to come."
National Women's Council Director Orla O’Connor described Vicky as “a trailblazer, a woman of incredible courage, who stood up for what she knew to be right.”
"Because of her, the CervicalCheck system was overhauled completely," she said.
"Nonetheless, women’s healthcare in this country continues to be neglected."
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