Mr. Francie Molloy:

I thank the witnesses for the presentation. It certainly highlights the urgency of dealing with cancer, and it is good to see the collaboration that is happening across the island of Ireland. That augurs well for the future. My first question is about the understanding of what this work is about and the ordinary person's access to that understanding through the provision of information on the research that is going on. The other issue is the linking of all the hospitals and institutions into the research and development of the strategy on this. Also, we hear a lot about collections and attempts to raise funds for cancer research. Like anything else, once that goes on for so long, people forget about it and move to the next popular charity or whatever the case may be. If more information were put out to the public as to what research is happening and what developments within that research and what new mechanisms and treatments are being found, maybe it would encourage again an uptake of the funding for cancer research. I think people very often wonder where that funding goes and what happens to it. Furthermore, how do we stop these developments becoming the ownership of a particular company? How do we make this more accessible to the general public in the future?