The Labour Party has called on Minister for Health Mary Harney to intensify efforts to complete the roll-out of BreastCheck services in the south and west.
The call from Cork TD Kathleen Lynch came following the signing of contracts yesterday for units in Cork and Galway.
Ms Lynch said progress on the service had been "painstakingly slow", but she welcomed the signing of the two new contracts as "a step in the right direction".
"However, there is a seriously long way to travel until the service is actually available to all women in Munster who require this breast screening service," she said.
She said 600 deaths from breast cancer every year could be prevented if periodic screening and diagnoses identified the problem early enough.
A team of consultants has been appointed to plan an €11 million BreastCheck facility in Cork. In Galway, the same figure was allocated for a unit at University College Hospital, along with a further €3 million for a symptomatic breast clinic on the same site.