First of all, I addressed this issue before the budget. I spoke to the Minister for Health about community cancer support groups throughout the country that came together to seek additional supports for organisations that were established as voluntary organisations. As we all know, significant fundraising efforts in communities countrywide have underpinned these support groups that provide very valuable services to cancer patients and their families. They provide tailor-made, psychological, social and community supports to children, young people, parents, siblings and so forth, and it is very valuable.

It has never been in the section 39 space. Most of these organisations have not been, if we are honest. The idea we would be moving to section 39 overnight was not a realistic proposition, but what the groups asked was that we begin a funding stream for such organisations. The Minister has allocated, I think, €2.75 million going up to €3 million for such organisations. There has been an assessment made. I think the ask was higher, but one has to work through the capacity to absorb and so on. Then the hope is that through the national cancer control programme, which in its latest strategy has allowed for the importance of this, we mainstream that as recurrent funding in future. I do not know when Dóchas got the letter, but I would like to think we would review that in the context of the allocation in the budget. I will talk to the Minister for Health about it.

I believe these services are very valuable. The problem very often is the acute services absorb a lot of the money in health, sometimes to the detriment of the development of other strands of healthcare. The work these groups do is invaluable in providing support. When people leave hospital or come away with a diagnosis of cancer it can be a very anxious and worrying moment. They come out of hospital and have just got news. The centres are very important and are almost lifesavers for people. They provide the opportunity to meet others who have been similarly diagnosed to discuss the implications of it for them and their families. This is a start. The Deputy has raised an important issue I am very interested in. I have worked with these organisations for quite a long time. They came to us to make a submission and we have made a response. It may not be at the scale people might wish, but it is a very significant start and intervention.

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