Harney to re-start vaccine plan as soon as money allows

A shelved plan to vaccinate 30,000 young girls against cervical cancer will be re-introduced as soon as funds become available, Health Minister Mary Harney told the Dáil today.

Ms Harney has faced stinging criticism from Opposition TDs and cancer-awareness groups since announcing on Tuesday that she had to scrap the scheme because of the shrinking public finances.

The minister today told a special debate in the Dáil that she hoped to introduce the plan, aimed at 12-year-old girls, as soon as the money became available.

“We’re not saying we’re not going to introduce the vaccine. We’re simply saying we cannot do it in 2009. We’re not saying we are abandoning it. It is a good vaccine that should be introduced and I want to see it introduced as soon as possible,” she said.

Ms Harney told TDs that the current national cervical cancer screening programme is saving dozens of lives by providing early diagnosis and quality treatment.

Opposition health spokesman Dr James Reilly asked why Ms Harney couldn’t find €10m for the scheme to protect the lives of children within her more than €16bn department budget.

“This is penny-wise and pound-foolish,” he said.

Calling on Ms Harney to reverse her decision to scrap the plan, Labour TD Jan O’Sullivan said: “It would be a humane, caring and life-saving gesture.”

Fine Gael whip Paul Kehoe asked Ms Harney if she "cared" about people dying of cancer.

“Minister, you are the politician I most admire outside of my own party but my respect for you as a minister has diminished,” he said. “It is shameful to get rid of this service.”

Labour deputy leader Joan Burton said Noel Browne eradicated TB “when the country didn’t have tuppence”.

She claimed: “The PDs are likely to be stood down at the weekend and therefore in my view the minister’s mandate is at an end.”

Labour TD Liz McManus added: “This isn’t death by a thousand cuts, it’s death by a single cut.”

Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan said the move to postpone the vaccine programme was an absolute disgrace.

“The PDs may be about to disappear but their Thatcherite policies are alive and well,” he added.