Mr. Donal Buggy:

The Irish Cancer Society operates largely on fund-raising from the general public, and from corporate supports also. Ninety-eight per cent of the €24 million income of the Irish Cancer Society last year was fundraised. We expect to see a significant deficit this year. Everyone knows our flagship Daffodil Day event which takes place at the end of March every year.

Unfortunately, it was not possible to run that event on the streets this year as we normally do. It raises approximately €4 million every year but we were able to pivot and transition that fundraising effort online and raised €2 million. That is half of what we would have expected to raise.

We are working very hard to ensure we can continue to raise the funds needed to support the front-line services we provide. We have always has the support of the public who have been putting their hands in their pockets and supporting us as we have changed our fundraising methods over the past 6 months. We will run a significant deficit in 2020 and expect to also run a deficit in 2021 and 2022. We have reserves in place to address that and ensure the front-line services we have can continue and we can enhance them to address the needs of cancer patients over the next number of years.

Research has been significantly impacted by Covid-19. All clinical trials for cancer in Ireland stopped in February and no new trials have opened since. That has a significant impact on the potential outcome for many cancer patients. It also has a significant impact on the psychological well-being of patients who are not being given access to novel clinical trials or potentially life-saving new treatments.

There are also issues with regard to our research infrastructure. Many of our researchers are on precarious contracts. They have only been able to do a proportion of that work over the past five or six months. Will they be able to extend those research grants? Will they have the funds to be able to continue the research programmes they hoped to deliver?

The society is committed to and will continue to invest in research, particularly, research that is closer to the patient which allows us to really understand the quality of life issues and patient impact issues faced by people who are diagnosed, not just now, but into the future.

Some 65 people today will be told that they have cancer and 25 people will die from cancer today. If we do not invest in research, those numbers will increase. If we do not invest in research in Ireland we will not be able to access the world-class cancer doctors that we need to deliver a world-class cancer system.