Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

I acknowledge the co-operation of everybody involved in trying to get this debate tonight. There were scenes in the Dáil yesterday that would not achieve anything, so it is important that we have come here to highlight in a calm and rational manner the concerns of people and members of the broader public.

Health is an emotive issue, but when dealing with cancer and the suffering of patients and their loved ones and families there is huge distress and concern. It is important that we outline a clear defined strategy or timetables for what we want to achieve. If our objectives are not achieved, the reasons must be outlined. For example, one must ask why Dr. Breathnach resigned and why we are unable to fill that post with a full-time consultant oncologist instead of the locum there currently. These questions must be asked and answers provided. One of the major problems is that there is much obfuscation with regard to services and many people highlight issues on an ad hoc basis. We need a defined and clear strategy to outline what we have achieved to date and where we want to go. People have genuine concerns in this regard.

There are several issues at stake with regard to cancer treatment and care. I know the cardiac-renal-oncology unit has got the go-ahead, but the majority of people are not aware of that. From what I can gather, even Dr. O'Reilly was not aware of that. Is there a breakdown in communications or do people just not want to hear what is happening? When we make decisions we must outline how long it will be before they are implemented and the service is provided to the public. Everybody in the health service must be provided with this information. I am amazed that the senior consultant oncologist was not made aware or did not know that funding had been made available for the cardiac-renal-oncology unit. The provision of information is a major step in trying to address many of the problems we have in the former southern health board region with regard to cancer care.

There are also major concerns with regard to BreastCheck. I know the roll-out is happening and that the Department has secured the international training site and planning permission will soon be sought for it. There is progress. Everybody accepts that we cannot roll out the full BreastCheck system nationally in a matter of weeks. It takes time. Personnel must be put in place and planning permission for buildings etc. must be secured.

The delivery of projects is another issue we must address. It takes a long time from the time of the decision to arrange funding, design, tender and final construction of facilities. Surely there should be some mechanism in place for major projects of critical importance to people's lives to be fast-tracked. We fast-track roads and various other projects, but there seems to be a delay process with regard to health projects. Is there any mechanism by which we can use hospital grounds already available for a fast-track approach to securing planning permission? There is concern about these issues and while I accept that the Opposition must raise genuine concerns, people should not try to confuse the issue.

A deadline of 2007 was set for the roll-out of BreastCheck and the programme was originally announced in 1999. It was never envisaged that it would be completed in a matter of years. It was stated a number of years ago that it would be in Cork by 2007. Government Deputies took a great deal of political heat in that regard because people were very concerned about screening for breast cancer, just as they are concerned now about screening for cervical cancer. People know that if preventative treatment is available or if cancer can be detected in time, there will not be such a high level of demand for forms of intervention like radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery. There are genuine concerns in this regard.

Dr. O'Reilly's letter has highlighted many issues. We can debate whether some of the statements in the letter, such as those relating to the renal and cardiac oncology unit, are factually accurate. Dr. O'Reilly's comments have raised legitimate concerns. I welcome this debate. I hope the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, will give us details of a positive and clearly defined strategy so that we can return to Cork to tell the people exactly what has happened and what will happen.

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