A woman who attended a mobile BreastCheck clinic for a mammogram when she had a concern about a lump on her breast has sued in the High Court claiming there was an alleged misdiagnosis.

The SmartProbe needle can give women a cancer all-clear immediately, thus sparing them an anxious wait and reducing a test backlog clogged with benign results, says Health Correspondent Catherine Shanahan.

The growing threat of legal action and multimillion-euro payouts are putting the future of the national breast screening programme at risk, it has been claimed.

The chair of the Health Committee says all health screening programmes need to come under scrutiny following the CervicalCheck scandal.

At least four women who have developed breast cancer are suing the State over allegations that BreastCheck failed to diagnose their condition.

The State’s health services watchdog has found shortcomings in BreastCheck’s governance structures that could affect the quality of the national screening service.

A total of 30% of Irish women die from cancer, compared to the EU average of 23%.

The highest recorded number of women have been screened for breast cancer in Ireland.