Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

The Deputy raised a number of issues, which I will try to take in turn. On medicines, approval for reimbursement by the HSE was given for 74 cancer drugs between 2021 and 2024. The total spend on cancer drugs in that period exceeded €645 million. We have launched an application tracker and have recruited an additional 34 staff, which is a 100% increase. I expect to see that move more quickly. It is also important that applications are made in a timely way. It is a two-stage process, as the Deputy will understand.

We hope the uptake of HPV will increase across all ages.

It is, of course, important to note it is a good thing that the numbers of diagnoses are increasing. It is a bad thing if the numbers are not increasing, considering our expanding population. We are living longer and detecting more cancers. We are treating more cancers successfully. We are identifying and diagnosing more cancers, particularly as we age. We must understand the implications of that marker. It is not necessarily a bad thing. It is about how we treat it. I will come in again.

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