Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

With the Ceann Comhairle's indulgence, I will first acknowledge the passing of former Cork North-West Deputy, Gerard Murphy, who died today. My condolences. I served on Cork County Council with him for two years. He was a very courteous and wise man. My condolences to his family and indeed to Fine Gael.

Very few people in this country are not touched by the ravages of cancer. It causes untold damage. Over the course of past cancer strategies, significant progress was made in some respects. In the course of the last cancer strategy and under the stewardship of three Ministers for Health, Deputies Harris, Varadkar and Donnelly, we have gone backwards. Over the last 13 years, the Ministers, Deputies Harris, Varadkar and Donnelly, have made the health service worse. Cancer services are not being funded properly. In five of the last seven years, the strategy has not received enough funding. In the years where it was funded, as Deputy Cullinane has pointed out, a difference was made. In five of the last seven years, it was not funded adequately. Only one of the 23 objectives in the current strategy has been met. There is much concern among people who are working in the area of cancer. Twenty-one clinicians wrote a letter expressing serious concern that things will likely regress. It is simply not good enough. There are numerous problems, many of them to do with recruitment.

It is so frustrating. With the housing crisis, people get frustrated about empty and boarded up houses. What could be more frustrating for people with cancer who are waiting for treatment and let down by the system than to hear about equipment not being used? In Cork, one linear accelerator is never used. One CT scanner is idle and never used. It has been lying idle for three years. How galling is that to families who have cancer? It is absolutely maddening. I have no doubt that they find it the same.

Things are beginning to regress in several respects. The clinicians are identifying that. That is a concern. It is simply not good enough. Deputy Cullinane has outlined the plan that Sinn Féin has to resolve this. It includes ensuring there is adequate funding and, crucially, addressing the recruitment embargo, which is such a blunt instrument and is doing significant damage across the health system as a whole.

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