Ms Averil Power:

As the Deputy hit on it, hearing the words "You have got cancer" is still some of the worst news you can possibly get, either as an adult or as a parent in relation to your child. The Irish Cancer Society is often the first point of call for people when they have had that diagnosis and are struggling to come to terms with it. They call our support line. We have a free support line. It is 1800200700. People can call and talk to a counsellor or a specialist nurse. He or she will help people process and understand the particular cancer they have been diagnosed with, the treatment they have been told they need, what that might look like and the side effects they may have to face. He or she will help them with things like how to talk to their children about their cancer diagnosis and all of that.

I urge the Deputy, if we can ever help with that, to please let people know that that is available. We also fund counselling in over 20 cancer support centres around the country. Those are local cancer support centres, and we fund counselling in order that people can access that locally. We also have an online remote counselling service, which we developed during Covid. That is an absolutely crucial service. We have found in recent years that people have been more distressed, particularly as a result of late diagnosis and some of the financial pressures we have mentioned here before. The financial impact of cancer is huge. Also, as regards the national cancer strategy, psycho-oncology is one area where we have seen a lot of very positive developments. The NCCP has a national lead for psycho-oncology and has put resources in through the cancer support centres to improve that service. I am not saying there is not more that could be done, but-----