Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

No one on the Senator's side of the House said "Put up or shut up" when the legislation was before it. The Opposition's main concern was having a lay majority and taking expertise away from doctors. I was a spokesperson for my side. When the Opposition talks about putting up or shutting up, why does it not develop better cancer treatment plans than the Minister's? That is what should come from the other side instead of scaremongering.

When centres of excellence were rolled out three weeks or four weeks ago, Mr. John McCormack stated that it was the best thing to have happened to cancer care in the lifetime of cancer treatment. Those attending centres of excellence will have a 20% to 25% better chance of survival. This should be remembered when people seek to retain services in small towns such as Portlaoise, Tullamore and Mullingar. Services went to Portlaoise due to lobbying on the part of politicians at local level and the Tullamore cancer strategy was fragmented between it, Portlaoise and Mullingar. We know the results and must learn from the experience.

Mr. McCormack stated that if one's town has a hospital that treats ten to 20 cancer patients per year, one should bypass it and go to a centre of excellence. Recently on radio, a young man diagnosed with a rare brain and neck cancer discussed centres of excellence. His oncologist in Dublin told him that while the oncologist could treat him, he should go elsewhere. Were the man the oncologist's brother or had the oncologist been diagnosed, the oncologist would have recommended a centre in Liverpool. Had the man been told to go to Saudi Arabia or Cairo, he would have gone. While he needed to be away from home for three months at a time, he is alive as a result of being a patient at a centre of excellence.