Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The radiotherapy bus, known as the "cancer bus", provides a daily service for patients travelling from Sligo to Galway University Hospital for radiotherapy treatment. The current bus is not fit for purpose as there is no wheelchair access and no toilet facility. Wheelchair access goes without saying, really. It is a bus providing a service for people who are ill and should surely have wheelchair access. Many patients require the urgent or frequent use of a toilet because of the nature of their illness. The bus has designated stops at service stations but sometimes a driver has no choice but to pull over on the side of the road.

There is clearly a huge lack of dignity for these people who are at their most vulnerable while undergoing cancer treatment. It is an unacceptable way to treat people in this day and age. I add that the radiotherapy bus is a fantastic service. I have spoken to many people who have used the bus and they cannot speak highly enough of the service and sense of camaraderie and support provided by their fellow patients while travelling to and back from Galway. However, the need for a new bus was brought up time and time again during last year's general election campaign. I was assured by both the HSE and the Minister that a new bus with wheelchair access and a toilet would be provided this year.

A working group was set up locally in March of this year to advance the purchase of a bus. However, we are still no further along. Every time I ring the stakeholders, they say they are working on it. Over the weeks and months, they have said it is imminent but no bus is here now. The current bus was secured back in 2011 through fundraising and is still funded by local charities. I thank them for their dedication and hard work on this. However, with the current cost of living many charities are finding it harder and harder to keep raising funds for vital services. Many people believe that if patients in the north west have to travel to Galway for treatment, the HSE should be providing the bus service. That is a simple and clear statement. It is time for the HSE and whoever else is involved to provide 100% funding or matched funding for this vital oncology service. I ask the Minister of State where is the funding for the new Sligo to Galway radiotherapy service and why there is such a delay in providing it.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I am happy that more than 80% of the funding required for the bus has been secured. I really thank the local charity for raising €50,000 through fundraising efforts. This has gone on far too long. The Department is committing to ongoing engagement with the HSE and partners to find a solution that works for patients. This is going on for at least nine months. What has happened in the previous nine months has been nothing but passing the buck from one Department to the other when there is loads of money in this country.

These people - patients - deserve the best possible service in their time of need. I want to the Minister of State to go back to the Department and ensure that whoever is dealing with this bangs heads together and get a resolution as soon as possible. The people who contacted me have been very patient. I have been very patient. However, the patients who need this are putting up with a bus that is substandard. I thank the Minister of State for her reply and for coming in here today. If there is not a resolution for this in the next few weeks, we have to have a meeting with all the stakeholders, in Sligo or in Dublin, to get this situation resolved. It is simply not good enough. It is obvious that one Department is passing it on to the other, and the patients who absolutely need this vital service are going without it. I thank the Minister of State for her reply.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I do not disagree with any word Deputy Feighan has said in relation to this. The fact is that we are almost there, but that is not good enough for anybody who is travelling today with regard to wheelchair accessibility and having a toilet on board for those travelling from Sligo to Galway. It is a long enough spin as it is, especially when they are going for a specific treatment to support their cancer journey. I will give the Deputy a commitment here on the floor that I will go back to the Department this morning and ask it to make contact with the old CHO 1, as we called it, to see whether a sensible approach can happen. Notwithstanding the fact that we are two weeks out from a budget, we would be hopeful that money might free up after the budget. I will give the Deputy that commitment, however. He has raised a really important item. It probably points to the question that there are ad hoc arrangements all over the country in relation to transportation for people with cancer who are availing of radiotherapy supports. I also want to commend the community that raised €50,000. That is not easy to do, and well done to them. As I said, €150,000 is there now. I am not really sure how much a bus would cost, but if it is 80% of it, we are not too far out. Hopefully, a solution can be found very quickly. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue.