Mr. Donal Buggy:

One of the first steps we took after the shutdown of the country was to ensure services such as our volunteer driving service could be maintained. We have drivers who are over the age of 70 and who are in the extremely medically vulnerable category. Of the 1,000 volunteers the society had going into the pandemic, approximately half of those temporarily stood down to protect them from the Covid-19 virus.

We were able to develop new online training and recruitment programmes for new volunteer drivers and, thankfully, we were able to take on board more than 100 new volunteers, which allowed us to maintain the level of that service. Approximately 98% of all requests were met over the pandemic period. We were also able to connect with services such as Lifeline Ambulance Service, Order of Malta Ireland and the community and county committees that were set up to ensure any cancer patients looking to access chemotherapy services were able to do so. We are totally indebted to a cohort of magnificent volunteers who, when no one was travelling anywhere in the country, brought cancer patients to and from their appointments.