Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

I am delighted to have the opportunity to raise this issue on the Adjournment and I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to do so.

Over the next couple of weeks, Limerick will be the only city in Ireland without BreastCheck in place. Since 1 March 2008, the breast clinic in Limerick Regional Hospital no longer carries out screening mammography and only carries out symptomatic mammography. With screening mammography, women in the 50 to 64 year age group were screened for breast cancer. Due to the closure of the breast unit in Barringtons Hospital and the unit in Ennis, the Mid-West Regional Hospital finds itself under severe pressure in terms of resources to simply deal with symptomatic mammography.

Professor Tom Keane decided that the unit in Limerick would be designated for symptomatic cases and would no longer provide screening mammography. This decision was made on the understanding that screening mammographies would fall under the auspices of BreastCheck. However, there is no date for the roll-out of BreastCheck in Limerick. BreastCheck is already in place in Dublin, the east, the midlands, the north east and the south east. Since December it has been operating in Cork and Galway. The service will be available in Waterford in the next number of weeks but it is still not available in Limerick, even though the numbers of women aged between 50 and 64 are well in excess of those in Waterford and many other areas. The CSO population statistics for 2006 indicate that Limerick has a female population of 10,178 between the ages of 50 and 59. It is an absolute disgrace that BreastCheck has not been rolled out in Limerick.

I note that the Minister for Health and Children is not here tonight, which is not unusual. It merely demonstrates her lack of commitment to health in general and cancer treatment in particular. I wish to put some startling statistics on the record. Of every 1,000 mammograms carried out, 5.3 indicate the presence of breast cancer. There are 1,800 breast cancer cases per year in Ireland, of which 134 are in the mid-west. Perhaps the most horrifying figure is that one in 12 Irish women develops breast cancer. We have a death rate of 36%, which is the fourth highest out of 25 developed countries, according to the World Health Organisation. Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer after skin cancer.

Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, the Acting Chairman, knows the situation in Limerick well. There is no screening programme in place in the county. I have telephoned BreastCheck but cannot get a definite answer as to when the service will be rolled out in Limerick. The women of Limerick fall under the static BreastCheck service in Cork but are to be served by a mobile digital mammography unit which must be put in place as matter of urgency. The Minister for Health and Children stands indicted that this service has not been put in place before now.

Before the screening mammography service was discontinued in March of this year, there was a four month waiting list for screening mammographies for private patients and a one year waiting list for public patients. Now there are women aged between 50 and 64 in the Limerick area who — based on rumours we have heard that BreastCheck will not be rolled out for at least another 18 to 28 months — could be waiting over three years for a screening mammography test. This is completely unacceptable, particularly given the fact that BreastCheck recommends that a mammography be carried out every two years.

I want the Minister to indicate tonight when BreastCheck will be rolled out in Limerick and, until such time as the service is rolled out, the interim measures she will put in place to ensure that the women of Limerick and the mid-west are able to avail of screening mammography services. If such measures are not put in place, women's lives will be at risk, which is completely unacceptable. I await the Minister's response and hope we will be hearing news that BreastCheck will be rolled out in Limerick as a matter of urgency and that the women of Limerick and the mid-west will not be discriminated against any longer.

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