Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, if consideration can be given to the introduction of additional nationwide organised screening programmes for two of the four major cancers in Ireland, namely, prostate cancer and lung cancer, taking into account that the national screening programmes for breast cancer, cervical cancer and colorectal cancer have led to the early detection of cases in recent decades, and if he will make a statement on the matter.

The screening programmes, BreastCheck, CervicalCheck and BowelCheck, have been successful despite all of the criticism of them. It is important we recognise the people who have been at the forefront in pushing those programmes forward and those working on the front line. Looking at cancer diagnoses, prostrate cancer accounts for 16% of all cancer diagnoses in Ireland, while across the European Union it is 13%. Lung cancer accounts for 11% of diagnoses here and 12% of diagnoses across the European Union. Between 1995 and 2019, the number of cancer cases increased by more than 100%. If the increase in population is taken into account, the crude rate of increase in cancer cases is 48%, with a 52% increase among men and a 43% increase among women. Cancer mortality in Ireland also increased from 7,500 deaths in 1995 to 9,300 deaths in 2018. The reason is that people are living longer and therefore the rate of cancer in older people is also increasing. With people living longer, more cases of cancer will be identified, which is the reason for the increase in the number of people who have died of cancer.

It is predicted that cancer rates will increase from 27,000 in 2020 to 42,000 in 2040. We need to put in place mechanisms to identify cancers at a very early stage. One issue relates to prostate cancer and lung cancer. The National Screening Advisory Committee, NSAC, has received 53 submissions over the past 12 months and I understand it will announce and publish details of these submissions and the way forward. We now need to give serious consideration to this matter and be proactive. If we are not doing screening programmes in other areas, we need to identify what the symptoms are because many people end up taking action too late. Dealing with cancers that are far advanced then becomes a difficult challenge for the people caring for these patients. We need major public information campaigns for each of the cancers and the symptoms. When I was reading documentation before raising this matter, issues were identified to me that I was not aware of. I ask the Minister of State to give serious consideration to this proposal.

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