Professor M. John Kennedy:

There was political will. The original cancer strategy in 1996 recognised that we had huge problems with cancer outcomes, planned to reduce the cancer death rate by 15% in people under 65 - it is interesting that 65 was chosen - and did that within eight years. There was a lot of low-hanging fruit in those days. There were basically no cancer services in Ireland in 1996 of any substance. A plan was implemented to recruit cancer specialists, nurses and doctors, etc., and they showed within eight years that they could do that. It has become much more complex and extensive. Since then, services have become vastly more complex and multidisciplinary. The ability to demonstrate those benefits is more difficult in a much more complex system. The data is inadequate to answer the Deputy's questions.