Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would just like to follow up on that. European, Dutch and Belgian trials confirmed that very low dose CT screening in people at high risk of developing lung cancer demonstrated a reduction in mortality rate of 26%. This is factual scientific evidence. The European Respiratory Society has urged countries across Europe to implement lung cancer screening programmes without delay. The technology in this area is advanced. As legislators and policymakers, we are always going to be a little behind the technology and the medicine but it is time for us to listen and to implement a lung cancer screening programme without delay because there is a rapid increase in the incidence of lung cancer in Ireland.We must ensure that we maintain best international standards and that, as legislators, we have the best medicine in place for our citizens.