Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman. I thank the Deputy for his questions. With regard to the people arriving into the country from category 2 countries who have been vaccinated or who may have had Covid-19 in the past, the answer is "Yes". They will be subject to mandatory hotel quarantining. Everyone coming in has to have a negative PCR test, for example. They, too, will be subject to mandatory hotel quarantining.

I share the Deputy's passion and agitation around cancer treatment. It is a real issue but this is not the Government; this is Covid. The reality is that in Ireland and right across the board there has had to be an adjustment of services. We all know that. Much of the time it is because of infection prevention and control in the hospitals. I fully share the Deputy's passion and desire to get these services back. We have taken a few actions. In this year's budget, for the first time I have fully funded the national cancer strategy. The doctors, clinicians and oncologists I am talking to are very enthusiastic about what can be done in progressing cancer treatment in the country this year. The Deputy can rest assured that we will continue to do that in subsequent years. In addition, one of the areas the oncologists are very interested in is the allocation we have made this year of €50 million for new drugs. It is believed that approximately one third of that will be for oncology drugs so there is a lot going on. I fully share the Deputy's view that we have to get cancer services back open as quickly as possible for the reasons we all understand.

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