A consultant surgeon charged with a €700,000 breast cancer insurance fraud said he made "a hard decision" when he chose to perform a lumpectomy on his wife while she lay conscious on an examination table in his clinic.

A consultant surgeon charged with a €700,000 breast cancer insurance fraud broke down in tears at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court as he described the day he said his wife discovered a lump in her left breast.

A letter and a phone call received by a now retired insurance company staff member set off a major garda investigation into an alleged €700,000 insurance fraud by a consultant surgeon and his wife.

BOGUS claims will cost the insurance industry over E100 million this year despite a concerted campaign to crack down on fraud.