Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I acknowledge we have the rapid access prostate clinics but, as he stated, it is for men who have been referred on. One of the biggest problems is that men are less likely to go to their GPs and they are less likely to be referred on if they do not get to that stage.

I suggest something as simple as a letter encouraging men. It is difficult to have an open-ended scheme, as with CervicalCheck or BreastCheck, as one must pick a certain age demographic. Men aged between 60 and 69 have a one in 14 chance of developing prostate cancer and six in ten cases are found in men over the age of 65, and it would be possible to start something like this targeted at those ages where it is most prevalent.

As I said, 3,000 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed this year in Ireland. Ireland has the fourth highest incidence of prostate cancer in 27 EU countries and this is 50% higher than the EU average. I would urge the Minister of State to take this on board because no Member of this House can say he or she does not know somebody who has had prostate cancer. The same is so with breast cancer or cervical cancer. It is extremely important and I thank him for taking this issue.

See this speech in context