Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Lowry for raising this really important matter. As he started speaking, I was reminded of a delegation he brought to see me many years ago, when I was Minister for Health, from the Circle of Friends group in Tipperary town. He will remember that at time, the late, great Sarah Gleeson came to see me with Jennifer Jones Hickey and others, and I think of Sarah and her family today. She made an incredible contribution and legacy to cancer services and to the Circle of Friends in Tipperary town, and I thank her and others. I remember visiting the Circle of Friends and Sarah being too ill to attend but in her memory, we were all able to work to provide very significant funding, with community and the Government, to deliver that state-of-the-art centre. I was just reminded of those meetings as we are talking here today.

The Deputy is right about the role of community cancer support centres. There is not a Deputy in this House, regardless of party affiliation, who does not know the incredible benefit of them, and I am really pleased the current national cancer strategy, which runs from 2017 to 2026, recognises that important role. There is stuff the State must do, and there is stuff the State does well and stuff it must do better, but alongside that there is that partnership approach with the voluntary centres. More people in Ireland are now living after a cancer diagnosis and, therefore, the supports of our community cancer centres are growing in importance. As the Deputy rightly said, they are voluntary organisations, and many of them are legally charity organisations as well. They deliver a range of services directly to cancer patients, as well as to their families and carers, and this emphasises the importance of, and facilitates, improved quality of life during and after cancer treatment. The services are free of charge and are delivered in a community, non-hospital setting, and the idea a patient is not just a patient but also a person who is able to access services that look at all of their well-being in the community is really important.

The national cancer control programme established in 2022 an alliance of community cancer support centres and is now working closely with these centres on the psycho-oncology model of care and its implementation. I am pleased to say an additional €3 million in funding was allocated to the community cancer support centres in the most recent budget, which will help these voluntary and charity organisations to deliver services directly to cancer patients and their families.

All centres that were full members of the alliance were invited to submit applications for that funding this year. The national cancer control programme advises that letters with funding amounts for 2024 have now been issued to all of the centres and grant agreements are currently being signed off. I believe those grants are due to start to be paid this week and that grant payments for all of those who have received funding through the alliance centres will be completed in early June.

As we move towards budget 2025, I want to see how we can put that funding on a sustainable footing.

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