Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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I have two more questions. If the Irish Cancer Society representatives do not have the time to respond now, they will get back in later. I know a lady who has had an issue with skin cancer. We are not sure how bad it is. She has had a number of serious operations on her face. This lady has been looking for a medical card for years. I think she is something like €20 a week over the limit. It is terrible that people who are either diagnosed with cancer or could be diagnosed with cancer do not have access to a medical card. The witness made the point that we do not know how many people unfortunately, tragically, have died because of late diagnosis due to Covid-19. Would it be accurate to say that it is probably going to take years? People look at Covid-19 as a two-year or three-year period but the consequences will run into perhaps three, five or ten years because of late diagnosis, people not having the same quality of life and some people passing away earlier than they should have. It could take years. What can be done to get that data so we can prevent that happening in the future?