Ms Rachel Morrogh:

On the Senator's question as to whether we know if more people have died as a result of the pandemic and the impact on cancer services, we know there are international data published in the British Medical Journalwhich outlined that, for some cancers, a delay of just four weeks in cancer treatment can increase mortality, and that is across surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Naturally, this is a huge concern to us because people are waiting to be tested for cancer and they are then waiting for treatment. It is not just about deaths from cancer. The issue for the Irish Cancer Society is that people's quality of life is very affected when they are unable to access the treatment they need at the time they should. There is a race against time now to find those 2,500 missed cancers from 2020 to make sure they are in the system and that, when these people undergo a cancer test, they can access that treatment as quickly as they should.

As Ms Power said, this is not a pandemic problem. This is a problem with the Irish health service and we are becoming desensitised to it. A number of years ago, if Ms Power had given her opening statement and had outlined these extremely serious concerns which the Irish Cancer Society has about cancer services, people would be appalled. Sadly, I think we are desensitised to it now.