CervicalCheck campaigner Stephen Teap has promised to continue the late Vicky Phelan's campaign, saying that her actions showed incredible strength, courage and compassion.

The campaigner, who lost his own wife to cervical cancer in 2017, told RTÉ's Morning Ireland today (November 15) that he and his fellow CervicalCheck campaigners would continue Vicky Phelan's fight for transparency.

"There is an awful lot of work to be done today. There's still a shift in that culture within our healthcare system that needs to be changed, there's still a minority within the system that try and hold it up," he said.

"She started the process, and she's now handed it over to us, and there's plenty of us here."

Ms Phelan died in the early hours of Monday morning (November 14) at Milford Hospice in Limerick, aged 48. She was first diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014, after receiving an incorrect smear test result in 2011.

In April 2018, Ms Phelan settled her High Court action against a US laboratory for €2.5 million.

Her work as a CervicalCheck campaigner led to the Scally Independent investigation as well as a 2018 report into the controversy and the establishment of the 221+ support group.

Mr Teap spoke highly of Vicky Phelan's actions on April 25, 2018, when she stood on the steps of the High Court in Dublin after winning her case.

"She had the courage to turn against the system and say 'no, you're not going to silence me, and I will take you on.'," he said.

"What drove her to do all that was knowing that there were so many others like her, including my late wife Irene and many others."

Mr Teap told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that, although they had not met in person for a while, he and Ms Phelan had stayed in touch via WhatsApp.

"We had a great friendship. Anyone that's met Vicky knows too well what an incredible personality she had, and how easy it is to talk to her. Everybody is going to miss her an awful lot," he said.

Vicky Phelan's 2019 memoir Overcoming became the An Post Book of the Year. The campaigner was also named as one of the BBC's 100 women in 2018.

VICKY, a documentary of her life by director Sasha King, recently screened at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin.

According to Mr Teap, Vicky Phelan was always full of passion and drive in conversations with politicians and health officials.

"She would walk into a room, and everybody stood to attention — she had that personality. She would do it with that beautiful personality and that cheeky grin that she has," he said.

"She was a warrior but at the same time she was the gentlest of souls, and that always came out. She could be fierce, but she was the kindest person you could ever meet."

Vicky Phelan is survived by husband Jim and children Amelia, 17, and Darragh, 11.

According to the HSE, all women and people with a cervix between the age of 25 and 65 should go for regular cervical screening (previously known as a smear test) when it’s due.

Find more information about cervical screening here.