Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to make a very brief contribution to what I consider to be a most important debate. Other colleagues have made their points and colleagues opposite are entitled to make their political points. I have no real difficulty with that but we should all try to support the Minister in so far as we can. I do so strongly. This is about human suffering and the need to change the system. The Minister has shown a desire and commitment to do precisely this.

When I was a very small child in the inner city, one of the first things I learned about was cancer because it affected my family deeply. I often wondered over those 50 odd years why more progress had not been made in cancer treatment and services. I have no problem with the concept of centres of excellence and will not be parochial in terms of my constituency in this debate except to say the Minister is aware that there is a strong case to be made in respect of cancer care services at Tallaght Hospital. This debate will continue.

I am serious about this issue and support what the Minister is trying to achieve. Tallaght is the third largest population centre in the country. The hospital in Tallaght which is ten years old this year treated 1,500 new cancers in 2006. There is no question but that as someone who lives in the community, I am entitled to make the case on behalf of people listening to this debate who wonder what is the situation.

The work of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children has been particularly important in this regard. All of its members, sometimes in a non-political way, have contributed to the debate under the competent chairmanship of Deputy Moloney. We should continue to do so, as it is where the real work can be done. Here in the Dáil Chamber Members make their points but the real work can be done at committee level. I hope this issue stays on the agenda after today.

See this speech in context