The decision by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to outsource smear tests to private laboratories for analysis has been condemned by the Medical Laboratory Scientists' Association (MLSA).
The HSE decided late last year to send smears to private laboratories in the US - in an attempt to reduce the time women had to wait for results of cervical cancer screening.
It emerged last November that women were being forced to wait six months for the results of routine smear tests from Cork University Hospital.
The HSE's action was discussed at length at the MLSA's agm in Dublin on Saturday.
Terry Casey, general secretary of the MLSA, said members were concerned that the system for checking smears in the US was different to that in operation here. He called on the Government to provide funding to allow for the development of a properly structured cytology screening service.
"The problems causing the delay in cytology screening are primarily due to historic under-resourcing of the service," Mr Casey said.
The HSE has said the laboratories to which it outsources smear tests are accredited facilities.