Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a question for the HRB. What is the funding split between primary and applied research? I have spoken to some of our scientists whose view is that funding for primary research has been largely stripped out in, say, the past ten years. Several have described how they might have been working on particular molecules and undertaking basic research that could have led to all sorts of wonderful things but that research was stripped away. They felt that they were essentially being outsourced to the pharmaceutical industry to conduct testing on their drugs and their impacts. How much of cancer research is not linked to any specific drug or trial but is just core, basic lab-based research?

The next question is for the HRB and Cancer Trials Ireland. Regarding all the trials that are being funded, are any drugs publicly or co-owned or is all the intellectual property privately owned? If all the intellectual property is privately owned - and this is essentially private companies trialling their own products - what percentage on average do companies fund to trial their products versus the State or third parties for that?

I thank the HRB for its presentation, which was useful. Its first recommendation was to establish a national cancer research group to improve co-ordination. That sounds like something everyone would support. What is the current status of that? The second recommendation was to develop a culture in the cancer care system that values research, which struck me as bizarre.

Professor Hennessy stated that there is a lack of recognition within the healthcare system to the effect that research is relevant. That is as peculiar as hearing from the university sector that university professors do not believe research is relevant. I do not believe it to be the case. Our medics may be so overworked that they never get the time to carry out research, and their incentives are misaligned.