Ms Eibhlin Mulroe:

They have been on the journey of a clinical trial, which we brought into this country from Australia. It is an Australian trial and our little not-for-profit Irish group is sponsoring that trial not only in Ireland but also in Europe. At the time, the drug involved in the trial was not available in Ireland. It was not approved or licensed. It was an experimental drug so people here would not have had that opportunity. What is important is that the public understands. Trials are for everyone with cancer, irrespective of when or where one is diagnosed. That is why the incidence denominator irritates me slightly. It is more to do with the prevalence. We should be looking at 6% of the prevalence figure, which is almost 173,000 people living with cancer in Ireland. What is important is our hospital sites. Looking at the number of trials we are running across the country, we are doing more in Dublin and Cork than we are doing in the west and north of Ireland. It is important to consider that in the strategy, there is access to trials for the whole country.

The Deputy asked how one gets on a trial. We have started to ask patients to ask their clinicians about trials. We have trials open; they are on our website. One can ask one's clinician and often one can be referred to a trial. What is heartbreaking is when a person comes to a clinic such as Professor Hennessy's and one knows a trial is taking place across the water for the exact condition the person has. We could do it. We have a list of trials in a queue that we cannot open because we do not have the money to do it. It is not just the money in our office; it is also the nurses and so forth. In the hospitals the Oireachtas Members work with and represent, the nurses, doctors and data managers who work on those trials within the care journey are maxed out. That is the reason for integrating research trial staff within the hospital budget line items. Dr. Morrissey referred to that. It is important to point out that the trials for cancer happen in the cancer units in the hospital.