Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 938: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she is incapable of both extending BreastCheck to the southern and western regions and at the same time extending it to women age 65 to 70 in the other regions in view of the fact that the cost is only €7 million and in 2006 the Government ended up with a surplus of €2.9 billion rather than a deficit of €2.2 billion. [3014/07]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The expert advice from BreastCheck and from the National Cancer Forum, as contained in its National Strategy for Cancer Control, is that following the national extension of the current programme, the upper age limit should be extended to women aged 69 years. The priority of BreastCheck is to screen women who have not yet been screened and accordingly it is fully focussed at present on the commencement of the first round of screening in the West and South. I will consider extending the age limit, as recommended, when the national roll-out of the programme is sufficiently developed and it is assured that a quality service is being delivered. Any woman irrespective of her age or residence who has immediate concerns or symptoms should contact her GP who, where appropriate, will refer her to the symptomatic services in her area.

I am committed to ensuring that the BreastCheck service is rolled out to the remaining regions in the country as quickly as possible. I have allocated additional revenue funding of €8 million for this year to meet the additional costs involved. I have also made available an additional €26.7m capital funding for the construction of two new clinical units and five additional mobile units and state of the art digital equipment. The first round of screening will commence in the South and West in the Spring which will take around 27 months to complete. The BreastCheck Programme is designed to offer repeat screening within an interval of 21-27 months.