Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and congratulate him on taking up his new portfolio. Many are inclined to forget that he is a qualified GP. However, I do not do so because he graduated on the same day as my son. I know he will have a good grasp of the health portfolio.

Many years ago I was actively involved in a campaign to have the BreastCheck service rolled out to the southern region, particularly counties Cork and Kerry. I spent many a wet Saturday on the streets of towns and villages in County Kerry getting both men and women to sign petitions. They were very eager to sign because they were anxious to have the BreastCheck service extended to the region. As the Minister knows, it was eventually rolled out to it. Many of my friends are indebted to BreastCheck as a result of their breast cancer being detected early. Some of them have informed me that their tumours were only about the size of the head of a pin when detected, which meant that they were only obliged to undergo lumpectomies because the cancer had not spread to the lymph glands. As a result, they did not require chemotherapy and all have recovered. I hope hey will all remain in remission.

The Irish Cancer Society has indicated that for every 500 women screened, at least one life will be saved. I argue that the figure is even higher than this, particularly in view of the number of women I meet in whom breast cancer has been detected by BreastCheck. However, the Irish Cancer Society is the expert in this area and the figure to which I refer is the one it has supplied. One woman in ten will contract cancer during her lifetime. As the Minister is well aware, BreastCheck screens women in the 50 to 64 year age group every two years. The programme for Government contains a commitment to extend the BreastCheck service to women aged 65 to 69 years. I ask the Minister to not allow this to be perceived as a broken promise, as a failure to extend the service will cost us more in the long term. The sooner breast cancer can be detected, the less treatment women will require. If it is not detected early, the women involved will need long-term care plans which can be quite costly.

I ask that the extension of the BreastCheck service to women aged between 65 and 69 years be approved without further delay. As stated, the Minister should not allow this to become a broken promise and oblige us to organise another campaign. As we promised the extension, let us deliver it.