The national cancer screening programme BreastCheck missed its mammogram targets by 46,000 last year, the HSE has confirmed to RTÉ's News at One.
Over 173,000 women were screened in 2025, the highest number of women screened in any year since BreastCheck started its national screening programme 25 years ago.
The number of screenings still fell short of the programme’s target to screen 219,000 women last year. It is the third year in a row that the programme has missed its screening targets.
In 2024, the service target for mammograms was for 195,000 women and others to be screened, but the service performed 137,134 checks. In 2023, the target was 185,000 people to be screened, but the service performed 166,532 checks.
BreastCheck currently invites women aged 50 to 69 for free routine mammograms every two years. The service aims to screen women who have no symptoms of breast cancer in order to detect and treat breast cancer at the earliest possible stage.
Around 3,500 new breast cancer cases are diagnosed in Ireland each year.
40% of first-time appointments missed
According to the HSE, over 40% of women called to attend for BreastCheck do not attend their screening appointment when first invited and over 30% of women do not attend their subsequent appointments.
Speaking to RTÉ’s News at One, Director of Clinical Affairs with the Irish Cancer Society Amy Nolan urged those who receive an invitation for a mammogram to attend or reschedule their appointments.
"If they don't attend their first screening, it's unlikely that they will attend subsequent screenings. So really the message is that while the target is there, it is being missed," she said.
"If women are not attending their screening appointment they really need to get in touch with BreastCheck and allow that appointment to be given to somebody else."
Ms Nolan believes that one factor that may be holding people back from attending their screening is a fear of the potential result.
"People may fear that they will identify a cancer but what we say in the Irish Cancer Society is if you are diagnosed with a breast cancer at stage one, the chances of survival are 99%," she said.
"If you are leaving that screening opportunity, you may be diagnosed in a symptomatic clinic at perhaps stage three or stage four of a breast cancer diagnosis, which means it has now moved outside of the breast and into other areas and potentially other organs.
"And it means you need further treatment modalities like chemotherapy, radiotherapy, as well as surgery."
HSE predict higher future demand for BreastCheck service
The missed targets for screenings come as the HSE predicts even higher future demand for its BreastCheck service due to population growth.
Around 500,000 women were eligible for breast screening in 2019 with that figure expected to rise to 700,000 women who will be eligible by 2029.
According to the HSE, the increase in demand requires a fundamental review of structure and systems to support this 40% growth in activity.
A long‑term strategy is now being rolled out including upgrades to infrastructure, increased staffing, and new technology.
In response to today's figures, the Irish Cancer Society has repeated its call for the BreastCheck screening age to be reduced from 50 to 45 years to improve early detection in younger women.
However, Ms Nolan said more urgent planning is needed in order to achieve that goal.
"We need to consider the resources that are required if we are going to screen more of the population if the age range is reduced ... HIQA are undergoing a review to see if that is possible but really the resources need to be put in place now to undertake that for the future."
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