Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

The Minister is almost in agreement with my comments. The Government's commitment to the cervical screening programme is weak. No progress has been made on patient registration and the Minister has no idea how women who need smear tests will be identified. She has acknowledged the HSE has no idea what is the laboratory capacity in this regard. These are two basic issues before one considers where sufficient doctors and nurses are available to conduct the tests and whether additional investment is needed in colposcopy clinics. That highlights a serious lack of commitment, ten years after the programme was proposed.

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