The HSE says it is considering introducing a screening programme for bowel cancer.
It has been responding to a call from the Irish Cancer Society which says it is seriously concerned about the length of time patients are waiting to undergo a test for the diesase.
The Society says patients who need a colonoscopy should be able to have the test within six weeks but are having to wait for up to nine months.
Bowel cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in Ireland after lung cancer.
The latest figures available, which are for 2005, show there were more than 2,000 new cases of the disease in that year and 924 deaths.
The Society says the system cannot cope with the number of patients presenting for colonoscopy unless more consultants are appointed and clinics are opened later in the evening and at weekends.
It says a bowel cancer screening programme needs to be introduced for everyone aged 50 to 75 by 2010 to ensure more people are diagnosed earlier and survive the disease.
