Alison O'Connor: Mistrust and anger puts future of life-saving screening tests in doubt

Dr Noirin Russell, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Cork University Maternity Hospital, said women are “turning down proven, evidence based medicine and therapies."

There is no appropriate replacement for the phrase cutting your nose off to spite your face when it comes to women and smear tests. Believe me, I’ve tried. However, the import remains the same. If things keep going in the same direction we are in real danger of losing life-saving screening services and more Irish women dying that could have been saved.

Mention screening now and the reaction is almost overwhelmingly negative. It is too often viewed as a failure and a con job, designed to trick women and cause eventual death. Ireland is an absolute outlier in this regard. Unless we manage to turn things around the cost to women, and our daughters, will be enormous.