Professor Fidelma Flanagan:

As I said, age is the biggest risk factor for breast cancer. While the incidence of breast cancer is less than one per 200 in the 30s age group, it is still very harrowing and dramatic for a young woman and her family, so it is hugely important we get this right. Looking just at population programmes - and screening is based on population - and the principles of screening, it is not internationally recommended that population screening picks up those women under the age of 45 at the moment. The evidence is that because the incidence in younger women is lower and because the harms of the test are high, the benefits to that individual patient or to the population are not sufficient to warrant doing screening in that age group.

Having said that, screening is only one part of a four-pronged approach that we must get our minds around. The first of those is breast awareness, education and modifying our own risk factors. Second is early detection through population screening in the evidence-based cohorts that we should be screening. Third is access, by which I mean that if a young woman feels the lump and has a symptom, she is then immediately supported, seen quickly by a GP and has immediate access to our symptomatic service. The fourth aspect in this regard is treatment, and we are strong on this in Ireland. We have up-to-date treatments, such as radiotherapy. If I were to offer advice to women across the board, regardless of age, those are the four strategies that we must hone in on and maximise if we are to have any effect on the rates of survival in this country.