David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have very little time available to us and I have many questions to ask, so I will get through as many as I can. There are many vacant radiologist posts and 100,000 people waiting for radiology assessments. I tabled a parliamentary question on the number of consultant oncologists. According to the national cancer control programme, NCCP, there are 41 approved consultant medical oncologist posts. How many of those are vacant? The programme wrote: "This is the equivalent of 1 Medical Oncologist per ~100,000 population in Ireland.... by 2028, a further 58 Medical Oncologists are required". That is more than double. What is the programme's objective for the number of additional consultant posts to come on stream next year to achieve the 2028 target?