Almost 90 lives are being lost in Ireland every year as a result of the Government's failure to extend the national breast screening programme, BreastCheck, to women aged between 65 and 69, the Irish Cancer Society (ICS) has said.

According to the ICS, the Government made a promise to extend screening to this age group during 2014, but later decided to defer this. One in 10 of all breast cancers occur in the 65-69 age group and at least 87 lives are being lost every year as a result of this decision, it insisted.

Along with cancer campaigners from around the country, the ICS has submitted a petition to Government, calling for the Minister of Health, Leo Varadkar, to extend screening as part of the HSE's Service Plan for 2015.

Currently, BreastCheck offers free breast screening every two years to women aged between 50 and 64.

"What we are asking for is very straightforward and is a commitment already made by Government. We know that screening women between the ages of 65-69 will save at least an additional 87 lives every year. These are the lives of our mothers, daughters, aunts and sisters," commented Kathleen O'Meara of the ICS.

She insisted that it is ‘common sense to put money into a programme that has such measurable and life-saving impact'.

"We are asking the Minister for Health not to forget about the promises that have been made and to commit to funding the BreastCheck extension in the HSE's Services Plan for 2015," she said.

The ICS pointed to a report commissioned by the Department of Health which found that the cost of extending BreastCheck would be between €1.6 million and €2.9 million. It said that this is a ‘relatively small amount in the context of the annual health budget and is an initiative that will actually save lives'.

Meanwhile Ms O'Meara noted that this was ‘an election issue that Fine Gael campaigned on prior to the last general election'.

"The Irish Cancer Society is very disappointed that we have seen inaction on this issue to date and are calling for this life-saving screening service to be extended to women who need it. Women who are 60-69 years old have the second highest incidence of breast cancer and the second highest risk of dying from it. Yet only the 60-64 age group are currently being screened," she added.