Dr. Peter McKenna:

We have not been very good at getting the story out that the screening programme at the centre of this crisis is saving lives and if people stick to it, it will continue to save lives on an annual basis. We are behind the curve in getting that message out.

To return to a point that Deputy O'Reilly raised about how good the programme is, let us say that we add another 100 to the 200 cases of false negatives we are taking, that would be 300 false negatives out of 3 million tests, that is one in 10,000. That is a very acceptable rate of false negative screening. The programme is effective. It would be terrible if people were scared from using it and scared of using other methods of having their cervix checked because only by enrolling in the programme can one continue to have the umbrella of being sent for a check and having the screening quality checked.

I fully accept that we have not done well in defusing the confusion and getting our good story out.