Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I took due deliberation in preparing this Adjournment matter as it is one which should not be taken lightly. To address the broader perspective of cancer incidence, one in three people in this country will develop cancer. Another frightening statistic is that 60% of cancers will develop in the elderly. If this is the case, it is important we maintain cancer services on a regional basis and are not sucked into the madness of centralising cancer services, which is the mantra of many reports of recent years. Centralising cancer services is not the way forward and we must be careful not to go down that road.

To be parochial, Letterkenny General Hospital needs a colorectal surgeon, a breast surgeon and a radiation oncologist. These appointments must be made in the short term. In conjunction with these services, a super-regional centre from where these services will operate is also needed.

The leaked elements of the O'Higgins report suggest that breast cancer services will operate in a centralised manner. It has been insinuated that the north west will eventually link up with Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry. However, this will not be the case. The now defunct North Western Health Board exhausted every avenue in trying to link up with Altnagelvin Hospital. It is not good enough for reports to repeatedly state that north-west cancer services will be facilitated through that hospital or through Northern Ireland services. It is not and will not be the case and we must consider decentralising services.

There is need for a full-time breast surgeon at Letterkenny General Hospital. Recent reports suggest it will take until 2007 for breast services to be relocated or decentralised to the west and north west. This is a scandal for the simple reason that in 2000 other areas had their breast screening services rolled out. That women between the ages of 50 and 64 living in the west and north west will not have these services in the short to medium term is a scandal, a disgrace and a matter which must be addressed in every possible way by the Government.

While unnecessary bureaucracy is a problem, breast screening services must be rolled out. We cannot blame bureaucracy; we must believe there is political will, but many in the north west do not believe it exists. One frightening and glaring statistic is that cancer death rates can be reduced by 25% in women detected through a screening programme. These services do not exist in the west and north west and, therefore, the women who cannot avail of them are in more danger of developing cancer in comparison to their eastern counterparts. This is an absolute disgrace. People in the west and Donegal pay taxes. Do they not deserve a service that women in the east are receiving? This is a rhetorical question because it is a disgrace that women are faced with such a predicament.