A campaign to encourage more women to check for breast cancer and to do so more often, was launched today, with the new that 28 per cent women never check for the disease.
The Minister of State for Health, Ms Hanafin, joined newsreader Olivia O'Leary and the wife of former taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, Kathleen, at the launch, where a new breast cancer helpline was announced.
The telephone service set up by Action Breast Cancer (ABC) and the Irish Cancer Society will allow women and their relatives to get advice on the disease.
But as the campaign got under way it emerged that more than a quarter of women never examine themselves at all and a shortage of radiographers was hampering screening programmes.
Latest figures show that in 1998 1,780 women in Ireland were diagnosed with the disease, up from 1,715 the previous year. But at the same time the number of deaths from the disease fell.
Ms Abby Langtry, a project leader at ABC, said more women needed screening. Currently women aged between 50 and 64 are screened free of charge every two years.
"We have a shortage of radiographers so it is manpower, not necessarily money, that is the problem," said Ms Langtry.
Later Mrs Reynolds explained how she was affected by the disease in the early 1990s. "I was really scared. I had the operation - a full mastectomy of just one breast. I wish I had checked myself earlier. I just seemed too busy," she said.
And Ms O'Leary, who also fell victim to the disease, said she was "horrified" by the finding that many women continue to ignore the risks. She praised the helpline initiative saying: "Information is power. Once you know, you can do something about it."
She reassured women that if caught early the disease could be treated, often without the need for a mastectomy.
The IMS poll found that only one in three women examine themselves on a monthly basis, as advised.
Another third checked every six months or less, and 28% never made any checks at all.
Of the group who checked only once a year or never, one in two said it simply did not occur to them, 14 per cent were afraid of what they might find and 11 per cent said it was "not important to them".
Ms Hanafin promised that action was under way to ensure breast screening and treatment services are extended. She said: "Over the last four years the Government has spent £60 million on the National Cancer Strategy including £4 million this year on breast cancer alone."
The new helpline number is 1800 309 040 and is operated by breast care nurses.
PA