Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise the important issue of male cancer awareness. Last month was November, or movember as it came to be called. I commend the Movember Foundation on its efforts to raise awareness of men's health. The movember campaign started in Melbourne, Australia, in 2003. Movember is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year to raise funds and awareness for men's health. To date the campaign has raised €30 million worldwide. Last year, movember's first in Ireland, more than 1 ,700 men around the country took part, raising a phenomenal €370,000. In its first year of participation, Ireland surpassed all other countries in donations per capita with an average individual donation of €213. Anybody who listened to the radio last month will have followed the moustache growing exploits of celebrities and less well known people. These funds went directly to action prostate cancer, an initiative of the Irish Cancer Society, to help it improve the state of men's health.

Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer and Irish men have a one in 12 chance of developing it during the course of their lifetimes. Irish men have the highest risk profile for this cancer in Europe. The national cancer registry estimates a 275% increase in the incidence of prostate cancer by 2020. Despite the extensive publicity received by breast cancer, the risk of a man getting prostate cancer is only 2% less than that of a woman getting breast cancer.

As is the case for all types of cancer, prevention is better than cure. I speak on this Adjournment matter to encourage the promotion of health awareness among men. Already we have seen the national expansion of BreastCheck and the introduction of CervicalCheck. I call for a similar programme to be introduced for prostate cancer screening. To date, BreastCheck has provided almost 450,000 free mammograms to 206,800 women and detected more than 2,700 breast cancers. The prospect of a successful intervention is much higher where a cancer is detected earlier. The successful BreastCheck model has been used and adapted for CervicalCheck, which became available to the 1.1 million women aged between 25 and 60 years living in Ireland on 1 September 2008.

There is at present no screening programme for prostate cancer in Ireland. In 2008 the national cancer screening service published its first annual report which noted that current evidence is insufficient to recommend a population-based screening programme because of concerns that it may not improve survival or quality of life and may ultimately cause more harm than good. Areas such as County Donegal have battled to get screening programmes for breast cancer because mortality rates were causing concern. I am not a medical person but I cannot understand why leaving cancers undetected would achieve a better outcome.

I call for action on the promotion of men's health awareness. Positive initiatives like the movember campaign and action prostate cancer need to be built upon. Through early detection, diagnosis and effective treatment, we can change established habits and attitudes to make men aware of the risks they face. A stigma remains around male cancers but early intervention allows people to avert life threatening situations. It is better to detect and deal with the problem than to hide one's head in the sand until it is too late.