Mark Dearey (Green Party)

I thank Senator Corrigan for sharing time with me.

I have a particular interest in this issue. I do not like to drag my good wife into the debate, but she has worked in St. Luke's Hospital and the cancer centre in Belfast as a senior radiation therapist. As such, she has a particular insight into the issues involved. I asked her the other night whether patients from County Donegal being treated in the cancer centre in Belfast received enhanced treatment as compared to the excellent treatment they had received during the years in St. Luke's Hospital. She was in absolutely no doubt that the clinical setting was critical when it came to cancer treatment and that placing a cancer treatment centre in the heart of a large hospital, with all disciplines and specialisms on-site, would undoubtedly result in better outcomes for patients. To characterise the move as an attack on the sick is convenient sloganeering, but it is not factually correct. That comes from my own resident expert. I recognise the fantastic work done in St. Luke's Hospital and also the fact that better practices should be pursued.