James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

Bunkum. If one has a breast lump, one needs a mammogram, a clinical examination and a biopsy unless one has a past history and they can see clearly that it is not cancer. One cannot determine that with a mammogram alone. It needs clinical examination. That is the triple assessment. It does not involve three people reading a mammogram. It involves the pathologist looking at the histopathology from the biopsy, the surgeon who has examined one and taken the biopsy and the radiologist who has read the mammogram. I do not know from where the Taoiseach or the Minister get their information and I do not expect them to be doctors. However, I do expect the people who advise them and who are paid handsome salaries for it to advise them appropriately. This practice is current in some hospitals. I concede that it is not being done in all of them but it should be. If we are really concerned with delivering excellence in care, excellence is what we should be after, not second best.

Is the Minister really interested in it or is it a case of continuing to close down the public services of today while promising nirvana tomorrow — a tomorrow that never comes? She rushes around the country opening private facilities. We have had a long debate here in the past over the airways——

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