David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

I am looking at the opening statement from the Irish Cancer Society. It talks about 4,100 people waiting more than the recommended 28 days for an urgent colonoscopy and states that "Too many women are waiting too long for urgent breast clinic access". We saw a lot of data in that area emerge in the summer. Some 880 people did not start radiation therapy within the recommended 15 days. There is obviously slippage and areas where we need more staffing, more infrastructure and more funding. I have gone through the budget booklet upside-down and inside-out, put down parliamentary questions and raised it with the Minister but I have no idea what additional funding there is for any area in health under budget 2026. I have no idea how much additional funding is in the budget for the national cancer strategy. I note that, in the statement the HSE is to deliver later, there is talk about €20 million in 2025, which is great, but I want to know what is in the budget for 2026. Have the witnesses had any discussions with the Department? Can they shed any light on whether there is any additional funding? On that point, I have engaged with the Irish Cancer Society a lot over the last number of years and I know that multi-annual funding is really important for planning and to ensure there is certainty in relation to funding. A continuous pipeline of funding is really important. Will the witnesses enlighten us to how much additional funding is being made available, if they can? How important is consistent year-on-year investment in cancer services?