Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. The focus of our discourse here this evening must be on prevention because that is what the free screening programme for cervical cancer is intended to achieve.

The screening programme, which has been available throughout the country since September, aims to pick women up before they develop cervical cancer. Smear tests have the ability to identify pre-cancerous cells. I commend the Minister for rolling out the programme nationally. As the House will be aware, it was available only in the mid-west of the country as a pilot programme.

The Government has allocated an extra €25 million for the CervicalCheck screening programme. The full-year cost is €35 million. It is projected that, in total, approximately 100,000 women will have been screened by the end of the year. If a woman has already developed cervical cancer at the time of her smear test, this can also be detected. It is estimated that the screening programme can reduce deaths from cervical cancer by between 80% and 90%.

In September 2007, the Government endorsed the establishment by the Health Service Executive of a National Cancer Control Programme to manage, organise and deliver a national programme for the entire population in line with the Government's National Cancer Control Strategy.

Over the past 18 months, the HSE, supported by the Government, first prioritised investment in putting in place eight designated centres with a multidisciplinary team of experts to care for patients who are diagnosed with cancer. This approach adheres strictly to international best practice in the treatment of cancer, which is an indiscriminate disease that has touched so many families across our nation.

The second priority is the development of screening programmes. The breast screening programme will be completed during next year for those five counties to which it has not yet been rolled out. The cervical screening programme, which began in September for women aged between 25 and 60, has the capacity to eliminate the incidence of cervical cancer by 80% to 90%. Some 70 to 100 women present with cervical cancer each year. The HPV virus vaccine is just one part of helping to prevent deaths from such cancer. We must bear in mind that the requirement for a population-based cervical cancer screening programme is not replaced by the introduction of a vaccination programme. At least 30% of cervical cancers are caused by HPV types not covered by the vaccine.

The Opposition has tried to suggest that girls who do not get the vaccine are placed in such a vulnerable position that some of them will die. This argument is wrong. It is intended as emotional blackmail. The fact is that girls who are now aged 12 and do not get the vaccine will still be able to take full advantage of the extremely effective screening process at the appropriate age.

Given the nature of the development of cervical cancer, screening programmes generally do not start until women are in their 20s. Our programme is now offered to women between the ages of 25 and 60. The virus that leads to cervical cancer is transmitted by sexual activity. It is very rare that someone who has not been sexually active would contract such cancer from this virus.

For all these reasons, it is wrong for the Opposition to claim that without a vaccination programme starting next year more than 50 girls who are now aged 12 will die from such cancer. This implies that no screening programme or treatment services would be in place.

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