Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Can the Minister be more specific? He referred to a phased basis and "in due course". The Irish Cancer Society is adamant. It did a briefing here last week of members of all parties and none and the clear message received by Deputies was the importance of the rollout covering the 55 to 74 age group, the body of people to whom this most especially applies, and not waiting for somebody to reach 60 years of age when polyps may be showing already since their mid-50s. The earlier detection will ensure the best outcomes and the greater saving in the long term. I implore the Minister again either to outline his programmatised approach to this as early as possible or accept the arguments put and widen the age group from the outset. If we do not ensure that there is full funding for the programme we are only storing up for the future the problems we are trying to avoid that will have real human costs in terms of life and real costs in terms of our health services.

See this speech in context