Ms Eibhl?n Mulroe:

At this stage, and I represent the cancer trials group, which is made up of Professor Lowery and all of the oncologists in this country, the HPV vaccine will eradicate cervical cancer and cancers that affect young men. Therefore, it does not make sense what was said about the cost. Anyone who works in cancer research looks for ways to end this particular cancer and the HPV vaccine is one of the saviours. The Deputy asked an important question. I am too old to have benefited from the vaccine but it is important to recognise there will be generations of young people for whom, it is hoped, cervical cancer and related cancers will become less of an issue.

Deputy Conway-Walsh mentioned infrastructure and asked what does AICRI want. We have great medical oncologists here in Ireland but we do not have enough staff. Due to the 1 million people with missed diagnoses, which Professor Lawler talked about, we will have a tsunami of late-stage cancer cases coming into clinics. Unfortunately, after Covid, we do not have as many staff as we would like working in cancer research in our hospitals. We have more medical oncologists and radiation oncologists who are extremely well trained. As all politicians will probably have heard already, there is a crisis in terms of attracting nurses and some of the skill sets around cancer trials such as pharmacists and data managers.

That is the infrastructure for trials. We want a person with cancer who is walking into a clinic to be asked whether he or she wants to go on a clinical trial, when we have one available. To do that, there needs to be infrastructure around it. We are currently involved in a cross-Border survey with Belfast City Hospital and all the hospitals in the country. We are asking staff what the issues are. In addition to people, a new clinical trials regulation is coming and so on, but we also have issues around data protection, which I will not use this meeting to talk about. It might be useful to hear from Professor Lowery on some of those points.

Before I leave this issue, as someone from County Monaghan and the Border, I pay special tribute to the policeman who was shot last night in Omagh. It reminds us all of why we are here. This committee is here to find ways to work together. In terms of cancer and the people around this table, we all come from different backgrounds and perspectives across the Border. It is very powerful to remember that today. I pay tribute to the family of that policeman. I am thinking of all of them today.