The HSE says it'll take until October to clear the backlog of smear testing that built up while Cervical Check was suspended.
The programme restarted yesterday, 17 weeks after being stopped due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
It now includes a new, more accurate HPV test that aims to detect it sooner for younger women and those in at-risk groups.
The HSE's chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry says knock-on delays to testing will continue into next year.
"For those cases that were suspended because of Covid we will clear those by October.
"For any further cases as we work our way through those that are delayed we will have caught up with them by February of next year - that is to say any case that's delayed in 2020 as a result of us catching up with those suspended from the time cervical screening was suspended from March until now."
