Warning trafficked women may be missing out on cancer screening 

CervicalCheck is available to women aged 25 to 65, while BreastCheck provides free screening to women aged 50 to 69. Registration for both programmes requires a PPS number. File picture

A human rights barrister has raised concerns migrant women who have been trafficked to Ireland may be missing out on routine health screening programmes.

Lorraine Lally, who recently addressed an international conference on human trafficking in the UK, said more needed to be done to identify and address the healthcare needs of women who have been trafficked to Ireland.

She pointed out access to national screening programmes could be challenging for some women. CervicalCheck is available to women aged 25 to 65, while BreastCheck provides free screening to women aged 50 to 69. Registration for both programmes requires a PPS number.

Ms Lally said: “In Ireland, as a woman, I get access to cervical screening but you cannot get access to cervical screening if you don’t have a PPS number and for some of these trafficked migrant women, the level of cervical cancer is three times higher and they can’t access the free screening. 

"We have raised this with the Department of Health — it is a public health issue. Some of these people are very vulnerable.” 

Ms Lally claimed there were brothels in every single city and county in the country. "We really need to talk about this — are these people OK, are they being treated alright?

“These people who are incredibly vulnerable have been left with no protection — there is nowhere I can send them where I can say they will be safe for the next 12 months and won’t be punished for what has happened here. 

"These women are aware that what they have done is engage in criminal activity, they are aware that they have taken money they shouldn’t have taken money from, and there is also an element where some of these women are being badly abused and hurt.” 

She said there was a tendency among some people to ignore the issue, but argued the reality was that houses in housing estates across the country were being rented and used as brothels for periods of time.

Efforts are under way to ensure asylum seekers have access to the screenings, with the HSE rolling out cervical screening at the Youghal Accommodation Centre in Red Barn in 2024.

In recent months, a call out was made to black African migrants to Ireland to establish what changes they believe need to be made to national screening information regarding BreastCheck and CervicalCheck “to improve black African’s migrants’ awareness of the services”.

The call for participants in the study acknowledged many who are eligible for the screening do not know about the services. 

It said: “We would like to learn more from you about what changes are needed to the information circulated to improve attendance to CervicalCheck and BreastCheck.”