Professor William Gallagher:

I thank the committee for giving us the opportunity to present our vision. It can probably sense we are excited and enthusiastic about our project. I will give three take-home messages. As Professor Lowery indicated, cancer is the most common killer of people both North and South. The challenge is this will, unfortunately, increase. If one looks at melanoma, it is rising at epidemic proportions, but science can address that. We have become better. We have the example of Covid. We have already done this in the cancer research agenda. The technologies used in the context of the Covid vaccination arose out of cancer research activities, but we need to keep innovating and get faster. Classically, drug development took 15 years. That needs to be brought closer and faster. The AICRI fulfils a need for a common research framework throughout the island. We need the committee's support and endorsement for that. It is not an uphill battle, but a challenge to put all the parts together and we need the committee's support.