Professor Mark Lawler:

On the impacts of Covid, yes it has been a challenge in relation to cancer care and cancer research, and not just on the island of Ireland. We have done a lot of work in the United Kingdom and we were the first to show the impact of Covid-19 on cancer services and cancer research. Unfortunately, that has been the reality. However, it has allowed us to work on an all-island basis in relation to Covid and cancer. I agree with the Senator that we should have worked on Covid to a greater extent on an all-island basis but certainly we have done so with cancer.

The work we did initially looked at what happened in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom. We have been working with the faculty of pathology in Dublin and pathologists and oncologists around the country through six different organisations. We are pulling together a report that will come out in December. We would be very happy to invite members of the committee to the launch. This will show the importance of data. Having that data intelligence allows us not only to identify what the challenges and problems are but, much more importantly, it points the way in relation to solutions. We have developed a seven-point plan to mitigate the impact of Covid on cancer. That is very important. Data help us to identify the problem, because we need to know what the problem is and the scale of the problem, and the data also drive how we actually solve the problem. While we must identify the challenges, we are much more into driving what the solutions are.

The Senator's second question was on research-active hospitals, which are something I am very passionate about. Last year, we did work with the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer to look at this. I am a bit of a data geek, and I make no apologies for that. One of the aspects we wanted to look at was if there was evidence that tells us that people who are treated in research-active hospitals have better outcomes than those which are not. We found that it to be the case, which puts to bed forever the myth that cancer research is a little add-on and something that people do in ivory towers. Cancer research is an integral part of how we deliver modern cancer care. I am sure Professor Lowery will address that because she is right at the coalface of delivering cancer care. We would not be anywhere in our fight against Covid without science and the same applies with cancer.

The Cancer Moonshot is a US initiative that goes back to John F. Kennedy's shooting for the moon programme. Essentially, it is a co-ordinated approach looking at bringing together the best minds in the US to address cancer. President Biden was the champion of this when he was Vice President and he continues to be a champion. On his second day in office, President Biden held a virtual call with the National Cancer Institute. That is how important he believes it to be. I am asking why we cannot have an all-island cancer moonshot. We have the people, the skill set and the opportunity to bring together people across this island. That, alongside collaborations with the National Cancer Institute in the US, would, I suggest, make us unbeatable. This is the type of challenge we want to address because this is how we are going to deliver for our patients.