Margaret Cox (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. It is timely that I raise this matter given that October is breast cancer awareness month. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer related deaths in Ireland, with an average of 1,726 women diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Of that number, 700 women — mothers, sisters or daughters — die from breast cancer every year. Some 106 women died of breast cancer in the west in 2002.

Breast cancer screening is not available in the west. Such screening could reduce the mortality rate of breast cancer by 20% to 30%. In Northern Ireland, by 1998 the mortality rate for the disease was reduced by 20% and in Scotland it was reduced by 30%. Of the 106 women who died in 2002, 30 of those lives could have been saved if such screening had been available. Some 9.7% of women in Ireland have a mammogram compared with an average of 21% of women in the original 15 member states of the EU. Those percentages represent a significant difference and that is not acceptable.

The timeline for the roll-out of BreastCheck was 2000 when it was provided to women in the east and the midlands. In 2003, the Government promised that BreastCheck would be available in the west by 2005. However, in 2005, we were promised that it would be available in 2007. In 2006, the Government said that BreastCheck would not be available in the west until late 2007. In 2006, we were told that the construction of a screening facility would commence on 6 November and no doubt the Minister of State will tell me about that. It is a welcome initiative.

However, construction is scheduled to last for a period of 48 weeks. Why has the construction company not been told to complete the construction work in a shorter time? Buildings can be built in a shorter time and the work day does not have to be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. In the case of a project as important as this one, it is possible to provide incentives to building organisations and construction companies to ensure the completion date of the structure is delivered at an earlier date. Until the structure is in place, we will not be able to make progress. Instead of accepting that the construction work could finish on 9 October 2007 without any delays, the Minister should ask the builders who have been awarded the contract when can they deliver it and how much will it cost. If ensuring the construction is completed at an earlier date would involve an expenditure of a few million euro, is that price too great to pay for a facility that would save lives?

The age group invited for screening is women aged 50 to 64. An American report shows that between 1980 and 1987, the incident rates of invasive breast cancer increased among women aged 40 to 49 by 3.5% and by 4.2% in women over the age of 50. Significantly, we need to examine the impact of widening the age group invited for screening. When we deal with rolling out the programme throughout the country, we need to widen the age group not only at the upper limit of women aged 64 but also to reduce it below the age of 50. Increasingly, more women in their 40s are developing breast cancer and it is not detected until it is too late. The survival rate is 82% for women younger than 40 years of age. It is found that women younger than 40 and in the 40 to 50 age group who have breast cancer tend to have a more serious form of breast cancer and early detection is vital. It is important we focus on extending the age group invited for screening as soon as possible.

I raised this matter to clarify the position regarding a donation made by the National Breast Cancer Research Institute, NBCRI, to the Health Service Executive, HSE, for the provision of breast cancer services and there is a concern that this donation was returned by the HSE to the NBCRI one year later with interest. That does not make sense and I would like the Minister of State to clarify the position.

Another matter on which I seek clarification, and I accept the Minister of State may not be in position to do so, in which case I can raise it with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, is regarding a newspaper reference to the Minister having been quoted as saying that the mobile testing units will get on the road as quickly as October 2008. I hope that was a typographical error in the newspaper concerned. I sincerely hope that in November 2007 when the doors to the BreastCheck unit in University College Hospital Galway are opened, the mobile units will be ready and equipped to travel to provide a screening service to women in Connemara, Mayo, Tipperary, Clare and the other regions that are not being served.