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 €8m to the National Cancer Screening Service for this year to meet the additional costs involved. The full complement of 111 staff for roll-out has been approved and recruitment is underway.
I have also made available an additional €26.7m capital funding for the construction of two new clinical units and the provision of seven additional mobile units and state of the art digital equipment. The static units at University College Hospital Galway and the South Infirmary/Victoria Hospital in Cork are due to be completed in late Autumn and BreastCheck has confirmed that the programme will commence national roll-out in October. Screening in individual counties will be dictated by BreastCheck's management and operational considerations.
I have allocated additional revenue funding of €5.0m to the National Cancer Screening Service this year for the roll-out of the Irish Cervical Screening Programme and an additional 30 posts have been approved. The national roll out of the Programme is planned for January 2008. All elements of the programme, call/recall, smear taking, laboratories, colposcopy and treatment services will be quality assured, organised and managed to deliver a single integrated national service. Accordingly, the Service is not planning to roll out the programme incrementally on a regional basis.