Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

Each year in Ireland there are between 250 and 300 new cases of cervical cancer, and between 70 and 100 women die from it. However, the figures hide the full impact of the disease. This is a cancer which affects younger women more than many other forms of cancer — younger women who have children, commitments and responsibilities. Worldwide, it is the second highest cause of cancer deaths among women.

In the context of the national cancer programme, I welcome the Minister's decision to allocate an additional €15 million in 2009 for the programme of work under the leadership of Professor Tom Keane of the Heath Service Executive. This year, we have also provided 30 additional posts to the national cancer screening service to facilitate the roll-out of a national cervical screening programme. With an additional sum of €10 million provided in 2009, the full-year cost of the programme will be around €35 million, which is an immediate step towards reducing deaths from cervical cancer by over 80%.

It is clear that the roll-out of a national cervical screening programme is the most effective population-based approach to preventing and controlling cervical cancer. The programme will provide free smear tests through primary care settings to the 1.1 million women living in Ireland aged between 25 and 60. A successful national programme has the potential to cut current mortality rates from cervical cancer by between 80% and 90%.

The national programme provides screening in a primary care setting every three years for women aged 25 to 44, and screening every five years for women aged 45 to 60. It will deliver a national quality-assured cervical screening programme and will be implemented in line with best international practice. All elements of the programme will be quality assured. Call and recall, laboratory services and coloscopy will be managed to deliver a single, integrated national service. It must also be available to women within four weeks of their smear test. All smear test slides will be read twice by two separate cyto-technologists.

The Minister has covered the critical figures but it is important to repeat that up to 100,000 women will be screened by the end of this year. It is planned to screen approximately 300,000 women in 2009. It is also extremely important that women be informed and motivated to attend for screening when invited to do so, even if they have received a HPV vaccine. Vaccination and screening are complementary approaches to controlling cervical cancer. The national cancer screening service, which is rolling out the national cervical screening programme, is aware that it must make every effort to encourage women to attend for screening. The success of the programme relies on a take-up rate of at least 80% in the target group of women aged 25 to 60. Initially, women are self-registering for the cervical check programme, which commenced on 1 September. It is certainly impressive to see the number of women who have come forward for the self-registering process, either by phoning the programme or accessing its website. The programme has prepared a population database of the 1.1 million women who are eligible for screening. It will commence using this and formally calling women from the database when the number of self-registered people reduces. It is also encouraging to see that around 3,800 general practitioners have registered as smear takers for the programme. These GPs are located throughout the country.

The programme plans to cover 300,000 in 2009. The Minister is fully committed to keeping the introduction of the HPV vaccination programme under review, but all these decisions are taken in the context of implementing the overall national cancer programme and, as the Minister stressed earlier, the importance of rolling out the national cancer screening service.

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