Ms Averil Power:

Research is a basic component of any modern day health service and a core aspect of the system. That is why it is mentioned in the national cancer strategy, of which recommendation No. 47 states the HSE will ensure clinical cancer research and the staff who deliver it will become a fully integrated component of cancer care delivery. It should not be down to charities such as ours to fund basic components. The Irish Cancer Society provides almost €500,000 a year for Cancer Trials Ireland, much of which is core funding which in other countries would be provided by the health service. It should not be for us to fill the gap. We want to be able to fund research programmes, not basic infrastructure.

Uniquely, we fund protected time for clinicians. One of the big issues for researchers in Ireland is that they do not have dedicated time to carry out research as part of their contracts. If medics working in our system want to carry out research and be part of a cancer trial, whether Irish or international, they have to do it on top of their existing contracts. If people who already have insanely busy weeks and are under pressure to deliver basic clinical services want to conduct cancer research, they have to add another 20 or 30 hours from their own time to carry it out. That is crazy and impossible. It is also unreasonable and the reason healthcare professionals do not want to return here from other countries where research is a core aspect of their day job.