Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The detail on some of these policy points is best addressed by the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children. However, I will make the following points. No Government, including this Government, seeks to unnecessarily put lives at risk. Deputy Rabbitte was in Government. Since he left office in 1997, some €550 million has been invested in cancer care. That does not suggest to him that he was unmindful of the needs of people with cancer or the need to develop cancer care services throughout the country. That line of argument does not get anyone anywhere. The context in which the Government is seeking to deal with the issue of cancer care arises from the cancer care strategy framework initiated under Deputy Noonan when he was the Minister responsible. More than €500 million has been invested in cancer care since we came to office. Some 92 additional consultant posts have been created and a further 245 clinical nurse specialists have been appointed. Approximately €95 million of capital funding has been allocated specifically for the development of cancer care related initiatives resulting in major investments, including €60 million in radiation oncology, €8.75 million in the bone marrow unit at St. James's Hospital and €12 million in BreastCheck.

The Tánaiste will give details on the nationwide roll-out of the BreastCheck service in due course. However, more than €60 million has been made available for the development of symptomatic services throughout the country. The 2000 report on the development of services for symptomatic breast disease services recommended the establishment of 14 specialist breast units nationwide. Six of these are fully operational and the remainder are at advanced stages of development. The expansion of the BreastCheck programme to the south east and the national expansion were announced in 2003. Screening commenced in Wexford in March 2004 and in Carlow in April of this year, and will commence in County Kilkenny next year. Approval has been given to BreastCheck to advertise for the appointment of a design team to work on detailed plans for the design and construction of two clinical units in Cork and Galway.

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