Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)

I welcome this fundamentally important Bill. Aontú has been campaigning for this for a long time. The right to be forgotten is crucially important for cancer survivors. We welcome and support this right 100%. The State has effectively punished cancer survivors and victims on the double. The first way is in terms of delayed treatment and diagnosis. The Irish Cancer Society this week launched a report stating that five out of six targets are being missed by the State. In the second instance, they are punished through financial discrimination. The idea that cancer survivors have been locked out of home ownership is a sad and shocking state of affairs. I have met many cancer survivors. I knocked on the doors of rented houses where the tenants had survived cancer for five, six or seven years and were still locked out of the ability to own their homes. This is at a time when rents are doubling because of the Government's policies. This is, therefore, a fundamentally important Bill, which we welcome with open arms.

I also raise the variations in cancer diagnosis. It is a well-known fact that early detection and diagnosis improves the prognosis for individual patients. The Irish Cancer Society outlined recently that there are shocking variations when it comes to cancer diagnosis. There are geographical variations and, indeed, a postcode lottery when it comes to cancer. However, there are also significant variations in public and private treatment, which is hard to believe in this day and age. For example, radiotherapy equipment with a lifespan of ten years is still in operation after 17 years. This has a significant impact in terms of servicing, etc., which knocks these machines out of action for some time. There are no PET scanners in public hospitals in Galway, Limerick and Waterford, which is hard to believe in this day and age.

From memory, over the past ten years, the number of patients treated for cancer at the Galway centre of excellence has doubled, but that has not been reflected in investments, staff numbers and physical space. Figures released to Aontú recently show there has been a 12% disparity between cancer patients in the public system versus those in the private system. The survival rate for breast cancer is 81% in the public system and 93% in the private system. That is a shocking situation. Coupled with the geographical disparity, it is a major task on which the Minister of State needs to work.

While we are in the process of improving the circumstances for victims and survivors of cancer, the Minister of State needs to recognise the significant financial cost of having cancer in this country. Car parking charges, for example, are significant, particularly in Dublin and Galway. Many of my constituents have to travel to Galway regularly. There is a significant cost in terms of fuel, cars, taxis and buses and parking charges. The Government should remove parking charges for patients with cancer. A certain number of hospitals have done this already but, with the Minister of State's intervention, that could happen overnight. While it may seem small to the Minister of State and me, in the fullness of our health, please God, it would make a significant impact on cancer patients.

Having a cancer diagnosis comes with significant worry and anxiety, emotionally, for the patient and their family because of all the things that go through their heads. Financial anxiety should not be heaped upon them and, where possible, the burden of the financial cost should be removed. An answer to a parliamentary question released to Aontú outlined that hospital car parks are generating extraordinary revenue. From whom is that being extracted? The hospitals are creaming it off the most vulnerable people in our society. I want the Minister of State to reduce the cost of car parking for cancer patients and other patients and remove that particular cost.

The cost of buying a bottle of water or whatever it may be in a hospital vending machine is double what it is in a shop. If I could have the Minister of State's attention briefly, why are vending machines in hospitals so expensive? Could he address that issue? Could he look into it and see what we can do as a Parliament to try to reduce that cost? Anything he or the House can do to remove additional costs and stress from people who have cancer and significant illnesses is a good thing. This is a step in the right direction. The right to be forgotten and the ability of cancer survivors to access financial products like mortgages are fundamentally important, but we cannot stop here.

There is much more work to be done. There is significant work to do on reducing the costs for cancer patients, on car parking charges and on variations in geography. It is difficult to believe that someone diagnosed with cancer in the west has a reduced survival rate and someone diagnosed with cancer in a public hospital versusa private hospital has a significantly reduced chance of survival. I ask the Minister of State to look at the important issues I have raised and perhaps come back to me with a review of those key points.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and Oireachtas staff for their professionalism and assistance in my first term in Dáil Éireann.

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