Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

The Government is committed to the treatment and prevention of all cancers, and we have had that debate many times in this House. One only has to look at the appointment of Professor Tom Keane and the extra €55 million that has been allocated in the budget for the centres of excellence. If the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, had money, the provision of the vaccine would be going ahead. At the moment, the way forward is the national screening programme which will cover 1.1 million women in this country. It will cut cancer by 80% and it is owing only to financial restraints that the vaccine is not being introduced at this time.

I was very impressed when I heard the eminent scientist, the Nobel prize winner, this morning on "Morning Ireland". I listened with interest to what he had to say and was surprised to hear that the duration of the vaccine is five to seven years. Given that it is only two to three years old, I do not believe there is any need to be jumping up and down about it, as it were, at this stage. We are going to spend €35 million on a national screening programme, which will cover 1.1 million women. If that is not an estimation of how the Government is committed to the treatment of cancer, I do not know what is.