'Another woman of Ireland taken from us too soon': Stephen Teap pays tribute to Vicky Phelan 

LATEST: Fellow cervical check campaigner Stephen Teap and Taoiseach Micheál Martin are among the many who have paid tribute to Vicky Phelan following her death. 

"It is with a broken heart that we say goodbye to my great friend Vicky Phelan who got her wings today," Mr Teap said on social media. 

"Five years ago she was told she only had a few months to live, she defied all the odds and through her strength and courage became a national treasure honouring us all with her wisdom, love and great sense of humour. 

"More importantly than that she became a very good friend to Oscar, Noah and I, a rock of for us to lean on over the years. 

"Another woman of Ireland taken from us too soon.

"We will miss you Vicky, thank you for just being you, rest in peace my good friend." 

Mr Martin said he was 'very saddened at the ing of Vicky Phelan, a woman of great courage, integrity, honesty and generosity of spirit'.

"She will be long ed as someone who stood up for the women of Ireland, and globally," he said on social media.

"Our condolences go to her husband Jim, Amelia & Darragh, friends & family."

President Michael D Higgins said the lives of 'so many women' have been protected thanks to Ms Phelan. 

"All of us who had the privilege of meeting Vicky will have been struck by the powerful inner strength and dignity with which she not only faced her own illness, but with the sense of commitment to the public good and the rights of others with which she campaigned.

"Thanks to her tireless efforts, despite the terrible personal toll she herself had to carry, so many women’s lives have been protected, and will be protected in the future."

President Higgins said she would be deeply missed "by all of those who were in awe of her courage, her resilience, offered not only to women but to all of us in Ireland."

EARLIER: Cervical cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan has died this morning, aged 48.

It is understood that she ed away in the early hours of this morning at Milford Hospice in Limerick after a battle with terminal cancer.

"Absolutely heart-breaking news this morning," The Women's Council of Ireland said.

"Vicky was a formidable woman and we have so much to thank her for. 

"Her loss will be keenly felt by us all."

She announced last October that she had returned home to Ireland from the US after the treatment she received there no longer worked.

Her medical team recommended that she return home to receive palliative chemotherapy.

Ms Phelan was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014, three years after receiving an incorrect smear test result that had not detected any abnormalities.

An internal CervicalCheck audit found the original smear check result to be wrong.

In 2018, she settled a High Court action for €2.5 million with Clinical Pathology Labs US.

Her campaigning led to the Scally Independent investigation.

Her memoir, Overcoming, was released in 2019 and became the An Post Book of the Year and Sunday Times Memoir of the Year 2019 and a documentary of her life called Vicky was recently released.