Health Services Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-23 ============================================================ Nessa Cosgrove (LAB), Labour Panel Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I have spoken to her before about this issue. At the beginning of September, RTÉ's "Liveline" programme spent three days discussing the matter of dense breast material. The Minister of State might have heard it because it got huge coverage. It is something I have raised before in this Chamber, not only as a woman but as a representative of Sligo. I first became aware even of the existence of dense breasts with the tragic death of a Sligo woman named Marian Lovett. To give an outline of how the system failed Marian, in 2022, she received a clear mammogram. Less than 12 months later, she received a diagnosis of stage 4 terminal breast cancer. Sadly, she passed away then one year later. Marian's cancer was missed because her breasts contained more fibrous and glandular material than fatty material. The Minister of State will be aware that dense breast material appears white on a standard mammogram and cancerous materials also appear as white, so it makes it difficult to spot. Several of the callers to "Liveline", and fair play to Kieran Cuddihy for raising this so well on the programme, noted that the chances of finding cancerous material on a mammogram is akin to finding a snowball in a snowstorm. As a result of the campaign that was brought forward by Lobular Ireland, Siobhán Freeney and Marian's daughter, Martha Lovett Cullen, who brought this to my attention, we heard the women's stories. They were very brave when they came on and spoke about this and how they want the information made available to them that the HSE is receiving. I acknowledge HIQA is involved in looking at the issue. I am going to give the example of Evan, who I heard speak about this. She got a private mammogram in her late 40s because she had a family history of breast cancer. At the private mammogram, she was told by the radiographer that she had extremely dense breasts and needed to be aware of this and that she would require additional screening. The additional screening was required because her breasts showed up as white on the standard mammogram, as would the cancer. Evan requested an ultrasound and a biopsy due to her family history and two weeks later, she was found to have stage 1 lobular cancer. She was lucky that her cancer was identified early. The point is that if she was just getting a standard breast check for cancer, people are not told with that mammogram. I went for my first breast check during the summer. I was called back. The reason I was called back was because there was an unclear reading. However, I was not told either that I had dense breast tissue. I queried it. I asked, "Why am I being called back? Is it because I have dense breasts?" However, the clinicians were not able to give me that information. To me, it seems that if a woman can get a private mammogram and be told she has dense breasts and can make an informed decision to look for a biopsy and a second mammogram, why should everyone not do so? This is not a failure of BreastCheck. All the women said that. They all said that it is a fantastic service, but we should be told. We should be entitled to the information the HSE is getting. If the clinicians are not able to read it on the mammogram, the equipment or whatever is needed to update the software needs to be put in place. HIQA is involved, but that is going to be 2027 and the results of that might not be put into play until 2028. In the meantime, can people be told the information the HSE has access to that their own GPs can have access to? Why can people not be told that they have dense breast tissue so that they are able to make an informed choice themselves? It is not that long ago that CervicalCheck was under discussion. I hate bringing that up but it is not that long ago that it also happened that women were not being told. Their information is there and they should be given the information if the HSE has it. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-23/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-23