Professor Riste?rd ? Laoide:

Just to clarify, the screening programme for lung cancer is a pilot study that is being performed. It will involve an inner city area of north Dublin. Screening is not under the remit of the NCCP so I want to be careful about what I say here. We support the introduction of a pilot programme for lung cancer screening. It may also involved a rural community in Galway; we are looking at that possibility. The actual implementation of any screening programme in this country is under the remit of the national advisory group in the Department of Health, chaired by Professor Niall O'Higgins. There is no doubt that the information gleaned from something like a pilot programme will be invaluable in terms of how a screening programme might be rolled out. In terms of lungs, it is more about lung health than screening because there is also advice given in the models that are used internationally.

Similarly on prostate cancer, we are looking at a potential pilot programme starting in Ireland as part of a multinational EU-wide project that is being supported by the European Association of Urology and various other groups. Dr. David Galvin is leading a pilot programme in this country which will also help to inform any potential roll-out of screening in Ireland. That will obviously be in the hands of the national screening authorities.