Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir Ó Brolcháin faoi a chuid ama a roinnt liom. It has been said many times that cancer has no boundaries and today in the Seanad we see that it does not respect political boundaries. We all agree that work on cancer must continue in terms of promoting awareness and delivering best practice services to people who have unfortunately contracted different forms of cancer. Today's statements follow the launch of daffodil day, when the Irish Cancer Society announced its expansion of cancer information services. I commend the society and welcome the initiative of setting up daffodil centres in a range of hospitals nationwide, including designated care services. Mr. John McCormack, CEO of the Irish Cancer Society, has said the largest gap in the delivery of cancer information is from the point of diagnosis within the hospital to providing a link with the support centres and groups in the community, thus enabling a continuous system of care and patient progress. It is important to recognise the society's achievements and the work it is doing.

I refer to Sligo General Hospital which provided cancer services until late last year when they were moved to a centre in Galway. I raise a minor but very important point, namely, the two commitments entered into by the Government to patients as a result of the withdrawal of services. The Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, promised campaigners and patients that a bus service would be made available to patients to enable them to travel for treatment. That service never materialised. As a consequence, patients are using the old bus service which is unsuitable for transporting people who are sick. A promise was made which has since been reneged on that follow-up services would be provided in Sligo but they are being provided in the BreastCheck clinic which is unsuitable for recovering patients. Will the Minister of State ensure the Government will live up to the commitments given to cancer sufferers and campaigners?