The Government's failure to extend the BreastCheck screening programme to the south and the west of the country is leading to a "health apartheid" for thousands of women according to the Labour Party.
The partys' health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, said women in some parts of Ireland were being denied this life-saving service despite commitments from the Government to provide it.
"There has been a 78 per cent take-up rate amongst women between 50 and 64 who are called for free mammograms and many lives have been saved as a result, but this vital service is being denied to women in half of the country in the South and the West," she said.
Ms McManus was speaking at the opening of the Labour Party's campaign on breast screening in Dublin today.
"The all-Ireland cancer report proved that breast screening in Northern Ireland has reduced breast cancer fatalities by 20 per cent over a decade. Sadly, because of the absence of a similar level of screening in the Republic, the rate of breast cancer facilities remains high," she said.
