Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion and strongly urge all parties to support it. On the pandemic's arrival in Ireland we were faced with some very tough decisions which had to be made. We closed the schools and cancelled sporting and cultural events. Possibly one of the hardest calls that had to be made was the cancellation of medical appointments, cancer screening services, general check-ups and non-urgent procedures. While a tough one to comprehend, it was a decision that had to be made, and I accept that.

Here we are, however, six months on from the start of the pandemic and more than six weeks since the start of the easing of restrictions, and these screenings have not yet restarted and are not due to restart for at least four more weeks. We have seen figures that show there has been a drop of more than 50% in the number of BreastCheck screens carried out since the start of the year compared with the same period in 2019, equating to fewer than 100,000 tests, compared with 500,000 for all of 2019. If this is not a truly worrying number for some in the House, all I can say is that not much will phase them.

I have been contacted by a lady called Deirdre in my home county of Clare and she described the truly difficult situation she has been facing. Deirdre informed me that she had an important follow-up appointment with the colonoscopy clinic in UHL in April that was unfortunately cancelled. This appointment was vital as it would have enabled the medical team to check whether cells were redeveloping but also to ensure that the treatment received six months previously was actually successful. Deirdre has since April been left with so many questions, concerns and thoughts about what this delay may mean for herself, her family and all the other patients in this awful predicament. These patients are trying to stay positive, but receiving letters with the generic line "we apologise for any inconvenience caused" does little for the anxiety or the stress and absolutely nothing for the outright fear these people are enduring.

This burden is too much for any person to be saddled with, and it is not good enough. We need to get CervicalCheck, BreastCheck, BowelScreen and all the other cancer screening services up and running without delay. We need to get them back to full capacity and then some. We cannot begin to comprehend the long-term effects of people not being screened. We cannot allow this virus to stop vital screening and care for our people any longer. We keep hearing from the WHO, NPHET and the Government that we need to learn to live with this virus so let us do just that. Let us get our services reopened and funded as required to ensure they can clear any backlogs, especially dangerous backlogs.

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