Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

To be fair to Deputy Ó Caoláin, he probably did not hear my answer. The Galway facility is in place. I visited it in January. It will treat patients in March. Approximately 102 staff have been trained. The lead-in time has been going on since last summer.

We have a mixed health system in Ireland with approximately half the population in private health care insurance. We need to ensure that private facilities, provided they are up to standard — the State's job should be standard-setting — are used to treat patients where they are available. We must see people as patients, regardless of whether they are insured and whether they have access to finance. It adds to the trauma of cancer patients and their families if they have to travel long distances for radiation treatment.

In a country of 4 million people we cannot have linear accelerators and bunkers everywhere. We need to think in terms of a national network where everything fits together, whether it is provided by the State or by the private sector.

I have the report Deputy Twomey mentioned, I received it ten days ago. It makes recommendations for the future. I want to ensure provision in the regions, including the south east and the north west. Facilities are being provided in Limerick at the moment. I want to make sure that the trauma of the experience of cancer is minimised for as many patients as possible. I understand that international experience is that to provide safe treatment, two linear accelerators are needed at any one facility. In this area it is not just the machinery and the bunker that are important but expertise and radiation oncologists. Once all that is networked together for the country, all the patients will get the benefit of that expertise. Much of it can be done in satellite centres and that is the Government's plan. I will make an announcement regarding these matters shortly.

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