Mr. Jim Breslin:

I am sorry to interrupt the Senator, but can I just come in for one moment? I can say this because I have observed it - the HSE has worked tirelessly to keep the laboratories and the programme going. It was not guaranteed, given how the controversy was raging in Ireland. There is a distinction with other countries, in that these are not public laboratories and are not as embedded in our system as a public facility would be. They have options elsewhere and the HSE worked tirelessly to keep that capacity within the programme. It is more assured now than it was in earlier months and Mr. McCallion discussed earlier the contractual situation. The fact that we are moving to HPV screening is also helpful in that regard.

However, all the work Mr. McCallion and his colleagues have done allows us to be more stable in this situation than perhaps we were at the peak of the controversy.