Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Donnelly for his questions. I will try to rattle through them and take them in the order in which they were put.

Deputy Donnelly has made an important point about high-risk women and how we can ensure that we specifically target groups of women most at risk. I will certainly pass that on to CervicalCheck and to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists representatives when they arrive. I do not have the statistics to hand but I know that we have a good track record compared to other countries in terms of reaching women across various demographic measurements and social classes and so on. We need to ensure that does not fall off as a result of this. Deputy Donnelly has made a valid point in that regard.

The GP guidance was produced on 2 May by Dr. Peter McKenna, the clinical director of the national women and infants health programme. We will certainly reflect back to Dr. McKenna to see if any further guidance can be produced.

We reached agreement with GPs last Friday on how they will be paid and resourced for taking on this extra work. I want to acknowledge on the record of this committee that the IMO and the NAGP were supporting the idea of carrying out repeat smears and were seeking to do so. I think they were getting worried that women would turn up in their clinics looking for repeat smears and they would not know what to do. If there is a need for more guidance in this respect, I will ask Dr. McKenna about that.