Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending and for the work in which they have been involved. I wish to take up on one or two points from the previous session. Clinical trials are not as readily available outside Dublin and Cork. What is the reason for that? What about Limerick, Waterford, Galway and Letterkenny? Surely trials should be spread across the country in an even-handed way.

Do the witnesses believe the national cancer strategy is working? This is important because the rudiments are in place to make it successful, ensure good outcomes and improve the life expectancy of cancer patients considerably. Everybody asks questions seeking confirmation. I spent many years as a member of the Committee of Public Accounts so I know how that works. I am not putting words in the witnesses' mouths but am seeking a simple, straightforward, honest answer to the question of whether the registry is working. If so, is it working to the greatest extent possible? Can it be improved?

My next question is important. Every organisation requires more funding. The health service, in particular, is in need of funding for a variety of reasons, including a lack of action on time, a lack of intervention on time, and a failure to provide adequate capital funding on time. As a result, there is a backlog. That is the story of the health services. I am not suggesting a bottomless pit in terms of funding but we have to improve. Generally, health services here cost more than in many other European countries. That needs to be dealt with from a public consumption perspective.

Somebody said to me some time ago that we had a better system ten years ago, and we did. We had more money but we borrowed it. The country was broke and nobody realised it at the time. That is a fact. At this stage, we need to spend money carefully and wisely, and we need to make it available. That is our duty but we must keep in mind that we do not want to go back to where we were. The health system, no more than any other aspect of infrastructure, would not be capable of withstanding another crash. We have many challenges, not least of which is the need to make adequate provision throughout the health services.