Women throughout the State are being asked to participate in a study on cervical cancer, to establish their views and level of knowledge about the cancer and cervical screening.
About 200 new cases of cervical cancer, a preventable disease, are diagnosed in Ireland each year and about 70 women die from it.
The collaborative research project, part of a bigger eight-strand project on cervical cancer called Cerviva, is funded by the Health Research Board, in association with the Irish Cancer Society, the National Cancer Registry and the Dublin Molecular Medicine Centre.
Seven Irish academic institutions, eight hospitals and 10 commercial diagnostic or biotechnology companies are involved in the project.
Project co-ordinator Judith Murphy said the study would try to find out what women in Ireland know about cervical cancer and what they think and feel about cervical screening (smear tests).
"We also want to find out what women know about human papilloma virus, a virus related to cervical cancer," she said.
"We have been working on it for the past year and a half and for the next six months we will be conducting focus groups, and using the results to draw up a questionnaire to send out to the wider population," she explained.
The project is funded by the Health Research Board - there is no funding from the pharmaceutical sector, according to Ms Murphy.
She agreed that the focus groups may be self-selecting to some degree because the women who volunteer to take part will be offering to give up an hour and a half of their time, and will probably have an interest in the topic.
But the researchers are being careful to ensure a balance in terms of socio-economic representation, as well as participation by different age groups.
"What we really need is to get women to talk openly to flesh out the themes a bit more," Ms Murphy said.
Doctors and clinics have agreed to allow their patients to participate, and information leaflets inviting women to take part are being distributed.
"We have told practice nurses that we just want random samples of their patients - they don't have to have a smear-test history and they don't have to be in a certain age group," said Ms Murphy.
Further information is available from the National Cancer Registry, Elm Court, Boreenmanna Road, Cork. Tel: 021-4318014. www.cerviva.ie