Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend Senator Norris for the motion he has put forward with his colleagues. I listened to his compassionate plea earlier for the family he mentioned, and meeting a young Dad and his children. I also listened to the contribution from Senator Casey concerning his knowledge of the children, as well as what the Minister had to say. It is incredibly poignant to think that a family dealing with its own crisis as the health of the two young boys declines is also lobbying so hard to ensure that other children and families will not have to go through the same pain, heartbreak and grief. I commend that family, because it is not easy to endure that experience and start a campaign that takes away from the precious time they have with those they love.

I welcome the opportunity to say a few words about that situation. I thank the Minister for being here and for the positive response he has given to this motion. The Minister's proposal regarding public health doctors is good, including the doubling of their numbers and associated recompense. We have relied on them a great deal in the last seven or eight months, and we will be relying on them again for the next 18 months or so. Our public health doctors have been doing an incredible amount of work in the background as well.

Looking at the screening service now, we can see how far we have come since the first screening programme, BreastCheck, was brought in 20 years ago by the then Minister for Health, and now Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin. I think that was in June 2000, the millennium year. We have moved on and now have three different types of cancer screening programmes, namely, BreastCheck, BowelScreen and CervicalCheck. I do not need to go through the litany of failures surrounding cervical cancer screening, but every one of those women impacted spoke about the importance of encouraging and supporting other women to go for screening. That has certainly been a very good thing. We also have diabetic retinal screening.

The establishment of the national screening service in 2007 was really important. The Minister spoke of the committee which commenced earlier this year. It is important that it is an independent body which will give advice to the Minister and his Department. I state that because this concerns promoting public confidence as much as anything else. The Minister said, "we can and must do more", and we absolutely must. If we can save 50 lives a year, then there is no option whatsoever but to do that.

I accept the explanation given regarding the amendment, and I support it, but I also accept the Minister's suggestion that after six months he might be able to return to the House and discuss the issue with the proposers.It is a privilege to be in the House to speak in a debate such as this. We get bogged down in discussing everything that is happening throughout the country because of the Covid-19 crisis. It is helpful to have an opportunity to talk about other important issues that need to be addressed.