Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I first want to welcome the students from the politics and sociology department of Atlantic Technological University, ATU, Sligo to the Dáil today who are guests of Deputy Martin Kenny. They are very welcome to Leinster House.

I thank Deputy McDonald for raising this important issue of wait times. It is a little disingenuous the way the figures have been presented this afternoon. These are not just my words. Regarding the press release the Deputy's party issued this morning suggesting a large increase in the number of hospital procedures cancelled in 2023 compared to 2022, which is on its website, the HSE specifically said, "Please do not compare one year with the last because it is not comparable." The HSE specifically said that it would not be reflective and should not be compared with 2023. It is important when we put information into the public domain that we are accurate in respect of it. The HSE put in writing to the party that comparing the figures that it gave to the party's health spokesperson for 2022 to 2023 is not an accurate way because of data collection issues. That is there in black and white for people to read.

Nonetheless, there are very important issues on waiting times in our health service. I am pleased that we are beginning to see wait times improve in the Irish health service. They are not improving in England; they are worsening. They are not improving in Scotland, they are not worsening. They are not improving just up the road in Northern Ireland but are worsening. They have improved for the past two years here in this country but we have have a long way to go and I fully accept that.

The Deputy talks quite rightly about the need for more staff but it is important for the Deputy to acknowledge that since the last general election in 2020, we have 28,000 additional staff working in the Irish health service. When the Deputy talks about recruitment freezes, pauses and the like, it ignores the reality that this year the Irish health service has money to hire 2,200 additional staff. To people watching in from home, I want them to know that. It is not true to say that the Irish health service will not hire more nurses this year, more doctors or more speech and language therapists: it will. When disability services are included, that number of 2,200 rises to just over 3,000. There will, therefore, be thousands more people working in the Irish health service, in hospitals, in the community and in disability services this year compared to last year and thousands more last year compared to the year before.

The Deputy has rightly pointed out the issue of bed capacity. Again, I agree that we need more beds in our Irish health service. Dr. Gilligan is entirely correct. That is why, again, since the last general election in 2020, we have opened 1,100 more beds and it is why the Minister for Health has funding for 1,500 additional beds as well.

She is absolutely right to raise the issue of cancer because there is not a family or community in Ireland that has not been touched by cancer. On that, I think we can all agree. It is important to say that while we have more work to do on cancer in this country, again there are encouraging signs when it comes to cancer survival rates. We have seen a very significant improvement in survival rates in Ireland right across all cancers and all ages. We now have 215,000 people living in Ireland following a cancer diagnosis compared to 150,000 in 2017.

We have seen cancer mortality rates decrease by 14% for men and 13% for women. That is a better improvement than the European average of just 10% and 5%, respectively. We have a plan to eradicate cervical cancer. Huge progress has been made and I note the Deputy's support in that regard for the HPV vaccine and the like. We can actually eradicate a cancer in this country by 2040, and the Minister for Health will publish the plan as to how he intends to do that this year.

I accept that wait times in Ireland are too high but I also have to say as a point of fact that wait times are improving and more and more people are now getting seen within the Sláintecare targets, to which all parties in this Dáil, including the Deputy's, have signed up. Bed capacity is growing, staff numbers are growing and the health budget is growing and will continue to do so. To any parent of a sick child and, most particularly, to a parent of a sick child with cancer, I want them to know that. I want them to know that we will continue to invest more in the services to make sure that their children have the best outcomes. I want them to know that they live in a country that has really good outcomes when it comes to cancer care.

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