Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

I welcome the Minister of State. Her speech was comprehensive and to the point. I acknowledge the quality of speeches today. It is an honour to speak in such a debate. There have been some responsible and heartfelt points made by Members. I note I am following a number of lady speakers. Every Member who spoke heretofore has been a lady. This demonstrates the caring nature of women and the need for women in politics. This debate is about an older facility, into which great love, care and attention has gone. This caring facility has thrived because of the major community effort people put into it. The reality is that the old infirmary building is no longer up to the task of providing top-level facilities needed in the modern era in rolling forward the national cancer programme, which everyone in the House is behind.

Health care should not be considered from the point of buildings alone. Health care is about people, not about buildings. When we talk about St. Luke's, I hope we are not talking about the closure of St. Luke's. Not only is there a building, there is an ethos and years of history. People have put great effort into what St. Luke's is today and it is essential that every effort is made to ensure those who put in the effort are accommodated and facilitated in terms of their knowledge and the work they have done so that they become part of the new service in so far as possible.

We have a major problem here, with cancer increasing by 41% between 1994 and 2015. We spoke about sunbeds recently. When we have such debates, it is important not to talk only about cancer care but also about cancer prevention. Good and all as St. Luke's, St. James's Hospital and the new national cancer programme are, we do not want our people getting cancer. We want to minimise the risk of cancer. It is possible to propose measures that minimise these risks.

The population is projected to increase to 4.3 million by 2015 even though there is a certain amount of emigration. We must upgrade our facilities and ensure the HSE is as efficient as we can make it. Any Government will contend with this problem, whether the HSE or another structure is governing health care. It is important to have an efficient and caring system.

My fear regarding this issue is that this Bill pertains to a system that was based to a great extent on caring and that worked with facilities that were neither the most modern nor the most up-to-date. Although the intention is to move to a highly technical process using very good facilities, we may be losing something in terms of caring. Caring should never be lost from the health services because it is the way in which so many people get better. I refer to how people who may not feel cared for but who understand they are getting the best medicines would have an ability to recover much faster. I believe Senator Fitzgerald used the word "holistic" and while many people do not understand the word, holistic health is highly important. As for people being in the right frame of mind, many studies have backed up the importance of mental and emotional linkages to good physical health.

Radiation therapy itself is an important treatment that is used in cancer management by 50% to 60% of patients and is successful. It is used in the clinical management of a limited number of non-malignant medical conditions and two major types of radiation therapy exist, namely, external beam and brachytherapy. I acknowledge that between 1960 and the 1990s, many centres were undeveloped. However, the work of Professor Keane has been mentioned and there has been a huge initiative on the part of the Government, the body politic and the HSE to improve cancer care services.

I refer to the reason there has been such an increase in the rate of cancer, which is a matter that must be examined constantly. In some cases, it is because people, who are living longer, now live long enough to get cancer. At the same time however, one must consider both the environment and environmental health, as well as what actually is causing cancer. As I stated, holistic health pertains to all aspects of health and not simply to treating illness when it has developed. It is not about allowing or even encouraging people to live unhealthy lifestyles and then trying to patch them up when unfortunately they become ill. It should be about living as healthy a lifestyle as possible in order that one avoids the diseases in the first place.