Dr. Peter McKenna:

I wish to answer that. It is important to stress in documentation to the patient that one smear alone is not an effective protection against developing cancer in future.

The chances of detecting cancer are much better if women take part in the programme and have regular smears. That is an important component of any programme and should be included. I contributed to the confusion myself when I was here on the last occasion and I am very sorry for that. I apologise in particular to Deputy O'Reilly to whom I gave information that lacked clarity. If one looks at 100 abnormal -----