Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his question. He has raised a really important issue with what he calls the radiotherapy bus. He is right; local charities and local people who volunteer do phenomenal work. I am taking this on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill.

As the Deputy said, the bus was originally procured using one-off funding from the HSE in 2011, following on from the essential relocation of breast cancer services from Sligo to Galway. These services were relocated as part of a wider centralisation programme for cancer services. The centralisation of services is a key part of successive national cancer strategies, ensuring that expertise and resources are concentrated to provide the best possible service for patients, as this is known to have a direct benefit on patient outcomes. Since the original bus was recently retired from service, a local bus company has been providing interim transport for patients. The buses currently used, as the Deputy has quite rightly said, are not wheelchair accessible and do not have toilet facilities on board. As the Deputy said, these are two components that are really important.

The Department of Health was informed in December 2024 that the HSE Community Health Organisation, CHO, 1, as it was then, had committed to provide €100,000 towards the procurement of a new bus. The charity seeking the funding has raised €50,000 from its fundraising efforts. I believe that this amounts to over 80% of the funding required for the bus. The Department of Health recognises the significant additional burden that travelling long distances for cancer treatment can have. I reassure the Deputy that the Department is committed to ongoing engagement with the HSE and partners to find a solution that works for patients. In addition, the national cancer control programme collaborates and supports the "Travel2Care" initiative administered by the Irish Cancer Society. This transport programme is available to patients attending a designated cancer centre for cancer tests or treatment. I have also been informed that the HSE has advised that a new patient transport service also runs from Letterkenny University Hospital to Galway and commenced in August 2024. This bus is wheelchair accessible and while it does not have a toilet on board, the service facilitates comfort breaks along the route. I again take the Deputy's point that the comfort breaks might not always be at the appropriate time for a person who needs those supports.

The Department is committed to ongoing engagement with the HSE and partners to find a solution that works for patients. A total of €150,000 has been secured, including €50,000 from the fundraising efforts and well done to those involved in those efforts. An amount of €100,000 was secured from CHO 1, as it was previously known. It is now really important that the remainder of the funding, however much it is and whether it is €20,000 or €30,000, is found and the bus is up and running to provide supports for people who are very ill and going for radiotherapy treatment.

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