Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

In recent weeks there has been much public debate about the quality and adequacy of cancer care services. It is fair to say that public confidence in these services is low. The solution proposed by almost everybody is the notion of centres of excellence. It is the strategy being put forward by the Government and the HSE, and all political parties as well as most medical professionals have subscribed to the idea.

However, I am not clear as to what the Government means by "centres of excellence". How many such centres will there be? Professor O'Higgins spoke about 12 in his first report but the HSE now seems to have eight in mind. The announcement by the executive in September identified eight "designated cancer care centres". Will these be the eight centres of excellence? Has the Government approved those eight centres? What is the position regarding the north west? The Minister of State, Deputy Jimmy Devins, seemed to indicate that Sligo will be added to the list at some point. Will there be nine centres of excellence rather than eight?

In regard to the timescale, the HSE has stated that all cancer care services will be transferred to these eight centres by the end of 2009. Where does this leave cancer care services that are being provided in private facilities? Is it intended that they will continue separately or will they also be transferred to the centres of excellence? How will we know that a centre of excellence has been deemed to be such? Will there be some statement to the effect that there is now a centre of cancer care excellence in Hospital X? Is there some formal process by which it will be communicated to the public that these centres of excellence are in operation?

What is the budget? The chairman of the working group overseeing the plan, Mr. O'Brien, says that no costings or budget have yet been worked out for its implementation. Professor Keane, the interim director of the cancer care programme, says transitional funding will be needed in the next two years to bring the centres of excellence into being. However, it seems no budget has been identified. How will they be funded?

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