Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

I am glad to renew acquaintance with the Minister of State. I raised the issue of radiotherapy with him last November and again this February in an Adjournment debate. I know he is aware of my concerns in relation to the absence of such a service in the mid-west region.

The leaking of the contents of the expert review group report, which has been anticipated for the past two years, did not surprise anyone in the mid-west region. It has been leaked that the three radiotherapy centres are to be located in Dublin, Cork and Galway. I know strong attempts were made by Waterford and Limerick to secure the location of such a facility in their areas. A deputation from the Mid-Western Health Board, including officials and members of the board, was due to meet with the Minister yesterday. The deputation was to be accompanied by people from the Oireachtas and I am sure this issue would have been high on the agenda of that meeting. The meeting has been deferred because the Minister for Health and Children was busy in the Dáil and could not meet them.

Senator Maurice Hayes said the provision of services comes down to money in many cases. That is true. What is being put forward in the mid-western area is what has been advocated by the Government for some time, the public-private partnership concept. We have a population of approximately 350,000 in the mid-west region. The Minister of State will be aware of the Caiman-Hyde report prepared in 1995 which said that a population base of more than 300,000 should have two linear accelerators and a radiotherapy facility. In this case, planning permission has been granted on the campus beside the oncology unit at the regional hospital.

We are fortunate to have the Mid-Western Hospital Development Trust, a trust organisation which provides a great deal of funding for developments in the mid-western region, including the regional hospital. In this case, it was prepared to provide up to €2 million for capital equipment. What then would the Department be required to pay?

It has been quantified by the Mid-Western Health Board that the staffing resource to run this unit would cost €1.5 million, if it were to be granted now to run for a year, based on current trends. In the scale of spending, that would not appear excessive when compared with the costs incurred both as a result of many people in the Mid-Western Health Board area having to travel to Dublin, a distance in many cases of 150 or 160 miles, and by St. Luke's Hospital which at times has problems providing its great services. In many cases the people from the region I represent receive treatment between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.