Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

On BreastCheck, this is not the point consultants in the north have been making. They have a good centralised unit. As Deputy Rabbitte and the House knows, BreastCheck is now available in many regions throughout the country and it will be rolled out in full by January 2007. Significant resources have been put into the service, but it will not solve all the problems. One in three people have cancer and BreastCheck will not resolve that. Dedicated units are required, including radiologists and medical and surgical oncologists to provide the service. That is what the Government has been trying to provide. There are 107 more consultants working in the cancer area, who are making a considerable impact.

There are other facilities, including the building of a radiotherapy network to bring the service as close as possible to the people in the regions. People would like the service to be provided throughout the country, but no one else has done that. Since the Tánaiste made her announcement in July, we have increased the number of linear accelerators from four to seven, which will improve greatly access for cancer patients throughout the country. The work which is going on in various parts of the country will help in that regard. Unfortunately, it will not mean that people will not die from cancer. Even with the best cancer services and facilities in the world, people still die from cancer, but we must try to provide as good a service as possible.

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