Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I concur with the Minister of State that it is really important that people ensure they respond to invitations they receive in respect of cancer screening opportunities. It still breaks my heart that BreastCheck is not yet up and running in the State. It is incredible that a backlog of 200,000 women, according to the latest estimates, are on a waiting list for cancer screening.

The Minister of State mentioned interval cancer but I am not talking about an interval cancer. It is a pre-cancer that was missed. Patricia Carrick won her case. What the Minister of State mentioned, therefore, is not relevant. Two major studies of cancer screenings in the State have been carried out, separately showing a 14% mistake rate and a 30% mistake rate. Individuals who went through those screenings, some as late as last year, have gone to court and found out there was neglect in the reading of their cancer screenings. The Department of Health, when contacted by concerned women during the height of this scandal, emailed them back to say the issue was not one of concern because cervical cancer is known to take ten to 15 years to develop. This means there are likely to be women throughout the State who may feel they are perfectly healthy but, because of the rates of mistakes in those two samples, may not be. This is a significant fear and a big worry. The State has a responsibility to re-examine the slides of those women and check whether they are correct. At the very least, it should choose a sample of the slides to check whether they have the same mistake rate as the two samples that were taken previously.

This matter is very important and I ask the Minister of State to ensure he attends to it immediately.

See this speech in context