Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One in every two of us will get cancer during his or her lifetime. Cancer survival rates are thankfully increasing. People are living longer so the likelihood of getting cancer has also increased. The survival rates for breast, colorectal and lung cancer patients are worse in the west than in the rest of the country, particularly for breast cancer. In HSE west, the cumulative five-year standardised net survival rate for female breast cancer patients diagnosed from 2011 to 2015 was 80%. That is compared to 85% on average for the country. Similarly, the rate for lung cancer was 16.7% in the west versus 19.5% nationally and for colorectal cancer, it was 62.6% in HSE west versus 63.1% in Ireland. There is a commitment in the national development plan to build a cancer centre in the area. It states, "In accordance with balanced regional development, a cancer care network for the Saolta region ... with a Cancer Centre at Galway University Hospital with appropriate infrastructure will be delivered." The witnesses may not have these data now but I ask for a comprehensive note on where that is at. We had a presentation in March from Professor Michael Kerin, which was well attended by Oireachtas representatives. We have lower survival rates in the west. There is a need for this centre and a commitment to it in the national development plan and Project Ireland 2040. Is there an update on that?