John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)

This document is similar to other policy documents. It is long overdue and neglects many of society's most vulnerable people. While the introduction of an inspectorate for nursing homes is long overdue, a Bill to deal with the protection of all vulnerable people is needed. It is a scandal that public health nurses working with vulnerable elderly people in the community are not told about patients with MRSA when they are discharged. This leads to the spread of MRSA. Hospitals are only concerned with discharging these patients. Hospitals seek to control an outbreak of MRSA and then get the patient out. Such is the incompetence within the hospital structure at present.

This Bill does not recognise or protect patients registered with the Mental Health Commission or those residing in acute hospitals. The Leas Cross case highlighted the mistreatment of the elderly and it is positive that the Bill recognises this. Irish people suffering from mental health disease are cruelly neglected by the State. The standards of psychiatric care are appalling. I am pleased the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Tim O'Malley, is present. A facility for Sligo has been discussed for the past 20 years but it has not been delivered.

The constituency of Sligo-Leitrim suffers from government neglect. This is particularly obvious in the provision of breast cancer screening. It is a damning indictment of the Government that it has done so little to introduce early cancer detection. The leader of the Minister of State's party has told us the country is awash with money. We cannot spend it quickly enough. A national steering committee was set up ten years ago to examine this matter but women in the north-west still have no access to screening for breast cancer. This service is only available to half the women in the target 50-64 age group. It will be several months before women across the north-west have access to screening for breast cancer, ten years after the steering committee was set up and seven years after the service was offered to women on the east coast. Some 650 women die of breast cancer in Ireland each year and 2,300 more are diagnosed with the disease. This figure is forecast to rise to 4,700 by 2020. In 95% of cases early detection can lead to full recovery but women in the west are denied the right to screening. Early detection makes the treatment process much less of an ordeal for the patient. Doctors state that women in the west are more likely to have to have full mastectomies because the disease is discovered later. A report on women and cancer in 2006 by the National Cancer Registry contained deeply worrying statistics on the north west. The report highlighted the urgent need for Government action on the national roll-out of BreastCheck and the national cervical cancer screening programme.

The Government is dragging its feet on an issue that is costing women's lives. It has let women in the north west down very badly. The former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, announced on 3 March 2003 that breast cancer screening would be in place in the north west within 20 or 30 months, meaning that such screening would have been in operation in Sligo-Leitrim by September 2005 at the latest. Some 16 months later women in my constituency are still waiting. The latest communication from the Minister for Health and Children is that she is committed to ensuring BreastCheck services are rolled out to the remaining regions in the country as quickly as possible. That has been stated time and again.

The Minister, Deputy Harney, stated on 5 December that she is pleased screening will take place in spring 2007 and I have no doubt this will again be announced before the election. While I would like to be confident that women in the west will have access to breast screening in the coming months, the Government's record does not offer much hope.

A 2006 report indicated that cancer is the second most common cause of death for women in Ireland, with the death rate being higher than any other western European country. Fine Gael has repeatedly called for the Government to stop dragging its feet at the expense of women's lives and immediately roll out nationwide screening.

Women in Northern Ireland will next year celebrate 15 years of breast cancer screening, with a reduction of one fifth in the rate of death from the disease. By that time, hundreds of women in the Republic of Ireland will have lost their battle with breast cancer and hundreds more will have endured devastating radical surgery. By the time we get screening in the north west, women on the east coast will have been screened for at least seven years.

The Government must also set out its plans for radiotherapy and cancer treatment in the north west. Previously we were told there would be provision for radiotherapy services by 2011, but we urgently need clarification on the Minister's exact plans. As the issue stands, 2011 is four years away. We have been let down badly when one considers the amount of money involved in the national development plan announced yesterday. For some millions of euro, a BreastCheck service in the north west could be provided. I am appealing to the Minister because we are fed up of promises and we need the service.

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