Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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There is something very special about the East Galway and Midlands Cancer Support centre in Ballinasloe, which I visited last week. The last time before that I had visited was during Covid.

It is a place where you instantly feel at ease. You go in the back door and it is like going into your own home. The first thing you see is the kitchen table and the kettle. It is a very welcoming and homely place and that is the very immediate sense you get when you walk in the door. You can tell instantly from those who are part of the centre whom I have met, particularly Jackie, Brian and Anna, how important what they do is to them.

The cancer centre is a section 39 organisation. It is a non-profit charitable community cancer support centre and it supports and provides much-needed services and supports to cancer patients and their families. There are between 120 and 130 people going through the centre every week for various supports and services. The centre serves, but is not limited to, the counties of Galway, Roscommon, Clare, Longford, Offaly, Tipperary, Westmeath and Dublin. They serve eight counties, yet they are in a grave situation as regards their funding.

It costs the managers of the centre between €13,000 and €15,000 monthly just to keep the lights on to provide what they are providing - just to stand still. Does the Minister of State know how much funding they receive from the State? They receive €7,000 a year. That comes to approximately €134 a week. That is barely a euro for every person who they see and support, the people who depend on them, in a week.

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This is not good enough. We have a state-of-the-art centre perfectly located in Ballinasloe that provides counselling sessions, treatments, therapies, fitness classes, and transport to cancer treatment, all of which is free of charge. In 2023, the centre provided 1,096 hours of treatments and 942 counselling sessions. It is struggling financially. It has two paid staff members; everyone else volunteers. The centre cannot say enough about those volunteers who give of their time. I also commend them on the work they do in supporting so many people in what is usually the most desperate, difficult and challenging time in their lives. The centre is heavily dependent and reliant on local fund-raising and the goodwill of the community. Again, that community and I commend those who fund-raise and donate. They are the people who keep the doors open. Of course, this is not sustainable. That is not good enough, given the supports and critical services they are providing. This cancer centre is seeing 130 people every week and serves eight counties. I know from the people who volunteer and work in it that they do not limit themselves by geography. They turn nobody away. They deserve an awful lot more than €7,000 a year.

I ask the Minister of State to ask the Minister for Health to meet with East Galway and Midlands Cancer Support representatives, and for the Minister to get the HSE to engage with the centre on the funding it needs to keep its doors open to support the many people and families they support, and to keep it functioning at the highest level. It wants to do more but it is very much hamstrung by what it has. The centre has also made an ask regarding the HSE directly taking on the salaries of the two staff members who are there so it does not have to come out of the fund-raising or the €7,000. More importantly, we need to fund the service and sustain it into the future for those who rely on it today and, unfortunately, for the many who will rely on it into the future.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I am dealing with this matter on behalf of the Minister for Health. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter of funding for East Galway and Midlands Cancer Support, which is based in Ballinasloe, County Galway. The need to address survivorship care for those living with and beyond cancer is now recognised internationally. Groups such as East Galway and Midlands Cancer Support emphasise the importance of quality of life during and after cancer treatment.

People living with cancer can require lifelong, evidence-based healthcare. This is both preventative and general medical, as well as psychosocial care and care specific to the cancer diagnosis involved. For others, access to support groups can fulfil most of these needs. Under the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026, our services for patients have undergone significant transformation and improvement. This has included the publication of a psycho-oncology model of care, and the development of the first national survivorship programmes. These are implemented in local communities by community cancer support centres. The strategy recognises the importance of links between volunteer and community organisations and cancer treatment services to ensure patients and their families have adequate support. The Government has invested an additional €50 million into cancer treatment and screening services under the national cancer strategy. Total cumulative additional funding under this strategy since 2017 is more than €300 million. This funding has enabled the recruitment of over 670 staff to our national cancer services since 2017, including an additional 200 nursing staff, 100 consultants, and 180 health and social care professionals in designated cancer centres.

There are more than 215,000 people living in Ireland following a diagnosis of invasive cancer. The national cancer control programme, NCCP, has progressed survivorship programmes to support improved quality of life for cancer patients. As part of this, the NCCP established the alliance of community cancer support centres, providing guidance and support to centres which, in turn, provide psychosocial supports to cancer patients and their families in the community. The NCCP operates an activity-based funding model for organisations that are full members of the NCCP alliance of community cancer support centres and services. In 2024, the Minister for Health secured €3 million in funding for community cancer support centres that are full members of the alliance.

East Galway and Midlands Cancer Support was set up in 2012. It provides a network of psychological, emotional and practical support for those diagnosed with cancer. Fund-raising is integral to the continued service provided by the centre and other such services. I am advised that the organisation has received small grant aid funding from the HSE’s NCCP in 2021, 2022, and again in 2023. East Galway and Midlands Cancer Support is currently an associate member of the alliance. The centre has indicated it will apply to undergo self-assessment and peer review under the NCCP best practice guidance this year, with the aim of attaining full membership of the alliance.

The Minister welcomes the opportunity to discuss funding for cancer support centres and encourages the East Galway and Midlands Cancer Support organisation to continue its engagement with the NCCP on becoming full members of the alliance. Cancer support services throughout Ireland are invaluable to those they support. The Government recognises the valuable work done by the staff and volunteers at cancer support centres throughout Ireland. As I said, more than 215,000 people have come through cancer treatment. It is extremely important that people get every possible support.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I acknowledge the announcement of the one-off €3 million in funding that will roll out this year. I have no doubt that East Galway and Midlands Cancer Support will attain full membership of that alliance. However, that does not guarantee it X amount out of that €3 million and therein lies the problem. I reiterate that this a is a cancer centre in the heart of Ballinasloe seeing, supporting and providing services, which would cost the HSE an arm and a leg to provide, to 130 people a week across eight counties on this island, but it is receiving €7,000 a year. I find it shameful that is what the centre is receiving when I think of the work it is doing, and the families and cancer patients it is supporting every day of the week. It is not good enough and the group deserves an awful lot more.

There are 16 community cancer centres under the alliance of community cancer support centres, including Ballinasloe, which will be included, as well as Roscommon Cancer Support. That €3 million needs to be an annual payment. In fact, we should see multi-annual funding for this. The Minister for Health needs to engage, along with the HSE, with each of these cancer centres, find out what money they need, what their level of service and demand is, and put money in place. There is no better way to spend €3 million than to give it to these cancer centres that really need this funding. I can guarantee that if the Minister of State looks at the cost to the HSE of providing more than 1,000 hours of treatments, transport to and from cancer treatment in UHG, as is provided in Ballinasloe, and more than 900 counselling sessions, it would cost the HSE a hell of a lot of money and an awful lot more than €7,000 of a grant to the centre in Ballinasloe.

I again ask that the Minister engages with the centre directly and asks the HSE to engage on its level of funding. We need to support these cancer centres. The Minister of State has given the figure of more than 200,000 people with cancer. It is an illness that is growing and we need to support those with it in every way we can. This means funding services properly and meeting demand.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I very much agree with her in respect of the number of people diagnosed with cancer who have come through treatment. They need support. The Department of Health and the NCCP are committed to working with cancer support services. This will ensure that various programmes and services are appropriately developed and made more widely available to those who need them. The current National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026 is the third such cancer strategy in Ireland. These successive strategies have shown the benefit of continued investment in national cancer services. It bears repeating that this Government has shown its commitment to implementing the national cancer strategy through significant investment in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Voluntary cancer support centres are key in providing psychological and psychosocial support. It is important that the development of dedicated survivorship programmes continues to enable patients to maximise their quality of life.

Through the important work of the voluntary cancer support services and the implementation of the national cancer strategy, we can have a profound effect on the quality of life for many people who are living with a cancer diagnosis. Locally-based psychological, emotional and practical support is vital for the best outcomes for patients. I recognise the invaluable input of the volunteer drivers, and there are many of them throughout the country, the fundraisers who put their heart and soul into fund-raising for those centres, and everyone supporting services for cancer patients.

Once again, the Minister welcomes the opportunity to discuss the funding for cancer support services and encourages East Galway and Midlands Cancer Support to continue to engage with the NCCP and the HSE on funding opportunities in future. I agree that all these services provide valuable support to patients and their immediate families. The immediate families also go through trauma, concern and stress during the time people are under care and treatment. I will raise the issues the Deputy outlined directly with the Minister.