The Minister for Health Simon Harris has confirmed the new HPV test will not be released until next year despite previous indications suggesting that it would be available this October.
Speaking in the Dail on Wednesday, Mr Harris who confirmed that the test will be introduced at some point this year back in July said the test will not be introduced until 2019 at the earliest.
Mr Harris’s comments come after he confirmed that he intends to meet with the families of the victims of the recent CervicalCheck scandal.
The Health Minister told the Dail that a lot of work has gone on and that the introduction of the test is a major priority.
Mr Harris said the Department of Health is in liason with countries were the new test has been introduced.
He also said he hoped it will be introduced at some point within the next year, but he added the continuance of labs is also a priority in order to keep our current screening programme going in the interim.
It is hoped that the new HPV testing system will provide a more accurate testing mechanism than the current liquid-based cytology model, and therefore result in fewer false negative results.