David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask about surgeries now. A response to a parliamentary question indicates that the number of oncology surgeries performed over a number of months this year was less than half of the number performed in 2019. We can only assume that was caused by Covid-19 and we can all accept that there was an obvious interruption to all services but in terms of cancer surgeries, the numbers are problematic. In April 2019, 1,304 oncology surgeries were performed but in April of 2020, the number was 487. In May of 2019, the number of surgeries performed was 1,429 and only 584 in 2020 while in June of 2019 the figure was 1,256 compared to 725 in June of this year. These figures seem to suggest that we have an awful lot of catching up to do. Does Professor Ó Laoide have the most up to date figures for how many surgical oncology procedures were performed this year compared to last?