Eradication of cervical cancer 'within reach'

70 women die in Ireland every year as a result of cervical cancer although Ireland has an opportunity to beat the disease, the Joint Health Committee has heard.

Niall Behan, Chief Executive of Irish Family Planning Association, said the eradication of the disease was within reach.

Mr Behan said the average age of death from cervical cancer this year was 56 compared to 65 from breast cancer.

However despite the fact that eradication is within reach, he said there had been an increase in deaths since 1998.

Mr Behan said no funding had been allocated for the rollout of a vaccination programme and Ireland was lagging behind other European countries in this area.

He said girls in Northern Ireland will be receiving the vaccination from September this year, and said while it was available in three doses from GPs in Ireland, the cost at €600 was prohibitive.

Tony O'Brien, Chief Executive of the National Cancer Screening Services, told the committee that funding is in place to launch the National Cervical Screening Programme this summer.

However he could not name an exact date for its rollout because some critical factors were yet to be decided.

He told the committee that money was not an issue and that his organisation was funded directly by the Department of Health, and not the Health Service Executive.

He was responding to a question from Senator Frances Fitzgerald who questioned whether resources were ringfenced.

Mr O'Brien said the money for the screening programme was 'in the bag' but that funding for a vaccination programme was a separate matter.

He said this would have to be part of a separate programme of activity and said they were not in the business of delivering a vaccination programme.

He added that if there were to be a vaccination programme, it could not be compulsory but would have to be on the basis of informed consent.

Mr O'Brien also told the committee that the programme would source data from a number of sources.

He said because Ireland did not have a national population register, they assembled their register from a number of sources.