Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is nobody in this country who has not been affected by cancer in some shape or form. It is a devastating disease, not only for those who are fighting it but for their loved ones too. Around 42,000 people a year will get a cancer diagnosis. Each and every one of them deserves the best possible chance of not only surviving the disease but of enjoying a good quality of life afterwards. That will only happen if we have a properly resourced national cancer strategy. That same strategy has not received adequate funding in five out of seven years, which means the Government has failed to make available the necessary funding for cancer protection, detection, treatment and survivorship supports.

Across the country, radiation therapy machines are currently lying idle due to a chronic shortage of staff. Screening has not been expanded as planned. Target times for tests are not being met. Surgeries are frequently delayed to shortages across hospitals. We are even missing the modest target of having 6% of cancer patients participate in clinical trials. We are one of the slowest countries in western Europe to make new medicines available to public patients. The Government is simply failing. We now rank 13th of the EU-27 for cancer survival. Thirteen years of Simon Harris, Leo Varadkar and Stephen Donnelly have made the health service worse. We have the highest waiting times and chronically overcrowded hospitals. Our services are not being funded. Expensive life-saving equipment is lying idle.

What needs to happen now is clear. We need to properly fund the cancer strategy on a multi-annual basis to improve detection and survival rates.

We need to end the recruitment embargo. The Government needs to speak with workers and put a realistic and deliverable workforce plan in place. The recruitment embargo needs to end but really what we need now is a general election. The Government has failed on this as it has failed on so many issues. If the Government needs any proof as to how that failure is affecting the day-to-day lives of even children in this country come down to Mullingar and have a conversation with the parents who engage with the paediatric diabetes service.

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