Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

Indicative dates for the roll-out are June for County Clare, September for County Donegal and October for County Leitrim. At the same time, it is vital to stress that any woman, irrespective of her age or area of residence, who has immediate concerns or symptoms, should not wait for an invitation to screening from BreastCheck but should contact her GP who, where appropriate, will refer her to the symptomatic services in her area.

Within the past three weeks, the National Cancer Screening Service applied for a series of derogations to allow the recruitment of radiographers to extend the BreastCheck service to Donegal, Leitrim and Clare. This is in accordance with procedures put in place under the recruitment moratorium. The screening service was permitted to proceed with interviews for radiographers last week while the application to recruit these posts was under consideration. I am very pleased to confirm that recruitment of radiographers in these counties can now proceed immediately.

In the wider context, the scope for redeployment of staff from the HSE to the NCSS and within the NCSS itself will continue to be explored with the HSE. In the first instance, however, we will proceed with the recruitment of radiographers as originally planned.

It is important to acknowledge the excellent results of BreastCheck to date. In 2008, BreastCheck screened more than 90,000 women around the country. Indeed, from the commencement of screening in 2000 until 31 March 2009, BreastCheck has provided almost half a million screening appointments to 236,000 women and 3,075 cancers were detected. The 2009 allocation to the National Cancer Screening Service is over €67 million, of which approximately €25 million is allocated for BreastCheck. Screening is an integral element of the national cancer strategy and BreastCheck has a key role in reducing the incidence of and mortality from breast cancer in Ireland.

Separately, funding for cancer services this year also includes an additional €15 million provided to the national cancer control programme on budget day, which is in addition to development funding of almost €22 million allocated in 2007 and 2008. This additional funding during these difficult times is evidence that the cancer control programme and the continued roll-out of BreastCheck are priorities for the Government and I am very pleased that the roll-out of BreastCheck can now proceed on schedule in Donegal, Leitrim and Clare.

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