Ms Emma Harte:

I thank the Deputy for the question. We get information in a variety of ways. As the last available report on the implementation of the national cancer strategy comes from 2022, already we are working 15 months in arrears at this point and we do not really know in detail what happened in 2023. There are some areas where we can get information on 2023, including the HSE service plan and the HSE performance reports, which at this point are only available up to September 2023. Data really is a problem that needs to be addressed to make decisions and to make a plan for the next year or so.

The Deputy had a question about screening targets. I believe that BreastCheck was the only screening programme that met its target in 2022. The other programmes are not meeting the required targets. There is a particular point about BowelScreen that needs to be raised as well. When the national cancer strategy was initiated, the plan was always to raise the uptake target to 60% by 2020. That has not happened yet. The target uptake rate is I believe still at 45%. I am sorry, I will correct myself there: it is actually meeting that target but is not at the required target-----