Dr. Peter McKenna:

I can confirm that it is a disease that develops usually over a ten to 15 year period and that is why engaging with a programme and having several smears rather than relying on a single smear is very important. The programme dealt with an expansion of more than 100,000 smears, which is against the backdrop of the programme doing approximately 250,000 every year. That is a very substantial increase in number. The other thing to bear in mind is that it is very difficult now to get screeners internationally because as screeners see that the programmes internationally will be moving to human papillomavirus vaccine, HPV, it is not considered to be a career that has, necessarily, a long-term future. Therefore, the number of screeners internationally is decreasing and currently this is not regarded to be a particularly friendly environment for companies to work in.

One of the American laboratories, which has been coming in for criticism, has proven to be very helpful and the HSE has funded the development of the Coombe laboratory which will in the future be able to provide a much larger capacity to read smears in a publicly-funded laboratory, which as a medium-term to long-term goal, will be very helpful.