Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That means "happy Daffodil Day", as the Leas-Cathaoirleach will know given his good grasp of the Irish language.

Like many other Senators today, I dedicate the two minutes available to me to all cancer patients and families who have suffered because of cancer. I think, in particular, of mothers, fathers and many others, including people in my local area, who left us much too soon. They feature strongly in our thoughts today.I also want to talk about the Irish Cancer Society and its volunteers up and down the country. I speak about the fantastic medical professionals, researchers and nurses and the work they do in comforting and helping people. We must also have a little bit of hope. Despite all the adversity I have spoken about, thousands of people are now living longer with cancer or surviving it completely. I think of all the volunteers in our own counties and of Jacqueline Daly of East Galway and Midlands Cancer Support. I ask the Leader to look at that organisation's website, to engage with that lady and to see what she has done for thousands of people throughout the country. There are many other people like her working in a totally voluntary capacity.

The Leader will agree with me that the important thing is to get all of the cancer services back up and running as quickly as possible. We have been told that these will start again in June but it will probably be the end of the year before they are all up and running. We should aim to get them up and running before the end of the summer if at all possible.