Eamon Scanlon (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, to the House. This debate touches everybody. When I was 17 years old and the eldest of six children, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. I remember the trauma in our house at that time. I am delighted to say she is alive and well in 2006. It certainly brought it home to me and I have never forgotten the effect the longest day I have ever lived had on our lives at the time.

It is good that we are having the debate during which many issues have been raised, including that of BreastCheck. That service is not yet available in the north west. I served on the North-Western Health Board for many years and I know the difficulty in trying to get fully trained staff to carry out the work particularly in a specialised area such as BreastCheck. I welcome that the programme will be extended by the end of this year or early in 2007. It is not a question of money, but of getting trained and qualified staff to carry out the work, which takes time.

I recognise the work done by the hospice movement. The North-West Hospice in Sligo is supported by thousands of people. Approximately €700,000 is raised each year through voluntary effort. I am glad the North-West Hospice is back in operation again. It had difficulties with an oncologist and it had no cover. It took 12 months to get an oncologist to work in the service in the north west. There are issues with getting properly trained and qualified people to do such work.

The Sligo Inner Relief Road opened last year. The mayor of Sligo, Councillor Rosaleen O'Grady, had the brainwave of holding a charity walk on the new road, which is approximately 5 km in length, on the evening before the road was opened to raise funds to provide a mammography machine for Sligo General Hospital. Some 5,000 people came out that evening. What had started as a small idea mushroomed into a massive explosion of voluntary effort. Some €80,000 was handed over to Sligo General Hospital to fund the machine, which shows the extent of the public support. Cancer affects everybody in the country and we should ensure we do everything we can.

I recently attended a public meeting in Sligo organised by people who had suffered from cancer and their family members in an attempt to provide radiotherapy in the north west and in particular in Sligo General Hospital. It was heartrending listening to the patients and their relatives outline the hardship they suffer in travelling long journeys for radiotherapy. Senator Mansergh mentioned the radiotherapy satellite that centres exist. We should provide more satellite centres to alleviate the hardship experienced by these people who need to leave their homes and families at a very vulnerable time. I know a patient from Sligo who must stay in Dublin even though the treatment only takes ten minutes.

While some people travel every day the majority do not have the strength to travel those distances every day. This treatment comes at the worst possible time in their lives and those of their families. It would be better for those people to be treated closer to their homes. I know it is not possible to provide such a service in every hospital. However, given the location of Sligo, it should be considered. I ask the Minister of State to consider providing the equipment in Sligo to prevent patients from travelling those distances at a very difficult time in their lives.