Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Sherlock for raising this issue and I welcome the opportunity to clarify the position on the incidence of cancer in the Cobh area in County Cork. As the Deputy asked, I will keep an open mind but I will now present him with the information I have been presented with. I want to reassure the Deputy and the people of Cobh that there is no newly published report setting out higher rates of cancer in the Cork area. The National Cancer Registry is the statutory agency with responsibility for the collection and analysis of data relating to the number of cancer cases. Analysis conducted by the cancer registry for the period 1994 to 2007 indicates that Cobh urban had a higher cancer incidence rate than the national rate and the Cork County rate. However, the data also indicated that Cobh rural had a lower incidence rate than the national rate over those years. While there is a number of possible reasons for these differences, it is important to acknowledge that cancer incidence is reported as average figures and that there will always be local variations above and below the average. This is particularly true when looking at a small population area, such as Cobh, relative to the national population.

In 2008, the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government commissioned an independent report on the site conditions at Haulbowline. The assessment involved analysis of all likely contaminants to determine whether there was a threat to human health or the environment. The report concluded that: "Based on the monitoring works completed it is concluded that there are no identified risks to the residential inhabitants of Cork harbour associated with the presence of waste materials at the East Tip on Haulbowline Island." In light of the conclusions of the 2008 report, it was decided not to conduct a baseline health survey for the Cork harbour region at that time.

There is a number of reasons variations may exist in cancer rates. The primary factor is age. While it is unfortunate that some people are diagnosed with cancer earlier in life, cancer is predominantly a disease of ageing. Lifestyle issues such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption, lack of physical exercise, unhealthy diet and excess body weight are risk factors. It is internationally accepted that up to one third of cancers can be prevented by improving these modifiable risk factors. My Department is currently working on a new national cancer strategy for the next decade. This will build on the progress made through the implementation of the two previous strategies. Areas of focus are likely to include prevention, early diagnosis, further improvements in treatment, rare cancers, survivorship and high quality, patient-centred care. I intend to publish this new strategy in the coming months.

I am looking forward to the implementation of the new strategy and to making a further significant improvement in our efforts to prevent cancer and to deal effectively with it when it does occur but on the basis of the issues Deputy Sherlock has raised, I will ask that my Department reflect on the points he has made and that it revert back to me. Any future decision in respect of a baseline health survey would have to be taken in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, which is set to be renamed.

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