John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senators for raising these matters on the Adjournment and I apologise for the absence of the Minister. This gives me an opportunity to set out his position on the future development of radiation oncology services nationally.

As the Senators will be aware, the Minister for Health and Children recently launched the Report on the Development of Radiation Oncology Services. This report is a most authoritative analysis of radiation oncology and provides a detailed plan for the future development of radiation oncology services here. The Government has accepted the recommendations of this report.

The Government agrees that a major programme is now required to rapidly develop clinical radiation oncology treatment services to modern standards. Furthermore, it has agreed that the first step of such a new programme should be the development of a clinical network of large centres in Dublin, Cork and Galway. The Minister agrees with the report's conclusion that this is the best model to provide a radiation oncology service to the highest standards. These centres will collectively have the staff and treatment infrastructure to permit a rapid increase in patient access to appropriate radiation therapy and will form the backbone of the future service expansion. The development of radiation oncology services along the lines recommended in this report is the single most important priority of the Minister in cancer services in the acute setting.

With regard to Cork, in the short term, the Minister has approved the purchase of two additional linear accelerators for the Cork centre and the necessary capital investment amounting to €4 million to commission this service as rapidly as possible. He has now approved the appointment of a project team to prepare a brief for the rapid expansion of current capacity from four to eight linear accelerators.