Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is right that Covid killed many people, for sure. Cancer also killed many people, for sure. We have not had a Covid inquiry yet so we do not know the effectiveness or net benefit in terms of saving people's lives of shutting down hospital services and stopping cancer patients getting treatment. The Minister mentioned survival rates. The National Cancer Registry shows Ireland has a breast cancer survival rate of 82%. Sweden has a 7% higher rate and Britain a 5% higher rate. It is not just about geography; it is also whether you use the public or private system. If you go by the private system for breast cancer, you have a 12% better chance of surviving for five years.

There are a number of things I would like the Minister to address and I understand she will not be able to do them all in this question but I want the Government to tackle what happened in 2020 and the effect it had on cancer sufferers. Also, why are we not as good as the likes of Sweden and England in terms of survival rates for breast cancer? Why is it the case that if you are on a low income and use the private sector, you are 12% less likely to survive over five years?

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