James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

The arrangements are as I have stated. That is the plan and those are the arrangements that have been put in place. I welcome the Deputy's comments. We want all citizens with oesophageal cancer and upper gastrointestinal cancer to get the best treatment. Like the Deputy, I believe that where possible we must have the volume of patients going through to maintain the expertise. Transposition of excellence will occur more quickly with IT link up and regular multidisciplinary team meetings in individual hospitals and also in conjunction with the main centre through IT linkage and video-conferencing, which is something we are developing. We acknowledge that for some parts of the country because of our geography and the population spread long distances are involved for people. I am pretty familiar with the road from Clifden and beyond coming into Galway city, which is a considerable journey in itself.

I am pleased the Deputy has accepted the answer that it will allow for the best of both worlds with a spread of the service in the country and yet have the volumes and expertise to keep us at the top of international best practice.

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