Independent MEP Marian Harkin has challenged Mr. Tony O’Brien, Chief Executive of the National Cancer Screening Service to explain why the Breast Check programme he promised in 2005 to roll out for the North West has not yet been delivered.

“Mr. O’Brien’s statement to a Dail Committee this week that decisions to extend Breast Check are dictated by operational considerations alone, begs the question as to what this means, since in December 2005, he indicated that staff recruitment had commenced in November 2005”, Marian Harkin said.

In his statement to the Dail Committee Mr. O’Brien stated “Breast Check will not compromise on it’s quality remit to satisfy any political or public demand for the introduction of the service”, a statement which was both arrogant and misleading, she said.

“I resent Mr. O’Brien’s suggestion that politicians such as myself should not continue to press for a service which according to a statement by him in December of 2005, had “the required level of financial resources and the necessary Department of Health approvals”, she said.  Mr. O’Brien, three years ago, had also stated that an exact date for rolling out Breast Check in the western screening area including Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal would be announced in 2006 and he had refuted a charge that Breast Check would not happen until 2009 as entirely without foundation, the Independent MEP said.

“What right has Mr. O’Brien to challenge the duty of politicians to question why women in the North West continue to be discriminated against in this vital health issue for them considering his failure to deliver on a commitment given to politicians and the public that Breast Check would be delivered in 2007”, she asked.

His statement to the Dail Committee this week, that Breast Check remained on schedule was deliberately misleading, having regard to his previous statements, and the roll out to the North West was a worrying example of mismanagement of a health project which was of vital concern to the lives of many women, Independent MEP Marian Harkin charged.