Professor Bryan Hennessy:

I thank the Deputy for the questions. I will address the second question first. As I said in my opening statement, our baseline figure for the number of people diagnosed with cancer who go on trials is 3%. That was calculated from 2014 figures. The strategy recommends that we double that. That is because, as other speakers have noted, international evidence clearly points to the fact that research-active healthcare systems have better patient outcomes. However, the problem is that since the calculation of that baseline figure we actually have gone backwards. The figure for 2018 is more like 1.5%. That is mainly down to cuts to funding for cancer research nationally. That is by far and away the biggest factor that has caused that problem. Ms Mulroe can speak further on that.

The Deputy's first question was about how we choose who goes on cancer trials.

The research programme in Cancer Trials Ireland seeks to develop cancer trials for patients with all the different types of cancer, such as breast, colorectal, bowel and lung cancer as well as the less common cancers such as ovarian and pancreatic cancers. We subdivide different cancers into different areas - different parts of the cancer journey that are treated in different ways. We develop trials in each of those areas but we cannot cover all the different priority areas in all the different types of cancer, not even nearly, with the funding cuts we have experienced, and we want to do that because people with cancer are entitled to cancer trials. When I see a person with cancer in the clinic for whom currently available treatments are no longer working, I can do nothing else to help the person. If there is a trial open that suits the person, it could offer a lifeline. A lifeline is hope and many trials have offered, and continue to offer, hope for people in Ireland with cancer, but not enough of them. If there is no trial there is no lifeline and no hope. That is not the best that we should be offering people.