Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for introducing this motion. I fully support it. I am a little disappointed in the Minister, not because he has just left but because he stood up and said he agreed with practically everything said and then proceeded with an amendment to the motion. For the life of me, I do not understand that. I cannot understand what the Minister would disagree with in the motion. Sinn Féin has been extremely reasonable. It has simply asked for a review of the national cancer strategy to address capacity deficiencies and to lay out a timeline for catch-up. The Minister has said he agrees with that so I am not sure what is occurring.

The motion calls for the reversal of historic underinvestment in cancer care. I believe the Minister agrees with that also. The motion calls for additional funding to be made available. The Minister agrees with that also. It would be a measure of his bona fides if he agreed with the motion and let us get on with the business of implementing the national cancer care strategy. Unfortunately, we are certainly not implementing it. When the Minister said he wants to go back to pre-Covid arrangements, I tremble. I certainly do not want to go back to pre-Covid treatment regarding the cancer strategy because its roll-out is utterly deficient. This is my interpretation but it is backed up by an analysis of the key performance indicators in the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026. Time prevents me from going through them. I have put red question marks beside nearly all of the 23 indicators because we have failed to achieve the targets set.

On private hospitals, I have asked repeatedly for the service level agreements but I never got them. I would like them.

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