Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I genuinely appreciate the opportunity to discuss this crucial issue with the Deputy. In effect, the life expectancy of certain people in certain parts of Ireland is lessened. We need to take this serious issue on board. I will present the reply from the Department of Health to the House on behalf of the Minister and we can expand on it. As we have been making progress with cancer control over recent years, we have focused on improving the quality and equity of cancer services through reorganisation and expansion. We have moved from a fragmented system of care to one that consolidates cancer treatment in larger centres, with multidisciplinary care and decision-making.

The national cancer control programme has reorganised cancer surgery into eight designated cancer centres and ensured these centres have sufficient activity to provide and maintain ongoing surgical expertise. The programme has also established symptomatic breast disease clinics and rapid access clinics for lung and prostate cancer at the designated centres. These clinics are available to all patients, regardless of income. The HSE also provides free screening for breast, cervical and bowel cancer. The Government recently announced the extension of the BreastCheck screening programme, which offers women between the ages of 50 and 64 a free mammogram every two years, to women between the ages of 65 and 69.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than 30% of cancer deaths could be prevented by modifying or avoiding key risk factors. Tobacco use is considered to be the single most important risk factor for cancer. The Department of Health and the HSE are promoting healthier lifestyles to reduce the risk of many chronic diseases, including cancer. Policies include the achievement of a tobacco-free Ireland by 2025.

The National Cancer Registry, which publishes data on cancer incidence, treatment and survival in Ireland, has presented figures to demonstrate that regional variations in survival patterns are not statistically different. Long-term survival from cancer has greatly increased in the past decade. Survival at five years from diagnosis among men increased from 42% in the 1994-99 period to 60% in the 2005-09 period. The increase among women over the same period was from 52% to 62%. It is estimated that the five-year survival rate for people diagnosed with breast cancer between 2005 and 2009 was 84.9%, which represented an increase on the rate of 75.1% for people diagnosed between 1994 and 1999. It is expected that survival rates will increase further due to the combined approach of prevention screening, early detection and improved treatment.

The issue of health inequalities, as well as prevention, will be examined as part of the development next year of the next cancer strategy, which will run from 2016. Of course much of this is about the treatment of illnesses in certain areas. I feel quite strongly about the issue of life expectancy. The Government has adopted an area-based approach to tackling child poverty and disadvantage, using models like Young Ballymun, the Tallaght child development initiative and the Preparing for Life programme in Darndale. These models focus on parental empowerment, for example. Issues of maternal depression are becoming quite acute in certain disadvantaged areas. If mothers become isolated from the rest of the community, it can lead to destructive patterns of behaviour.

When one focuses on the geographical dimension to the blackspots of disadvantage in this State, it is clear that the potential exists for different agencies to work together collectively. Often in disadvantaged areas, many people who are doing fantastic work are not in communication with each other. Models like Young Ballymun, the Tallaght child development initiative and the Preparing for Life programme in Darndale have broken down many of those entrenched positions. We are rolling out more of those area-based approaches. They might form part of the solution to tackling the issue that has quite rightly been raised by Deputy Kelleher today.

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