Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I was lucky enough last week to attend an incredible production of Who’s There? by Droichead Youth Theatre, my alma mater and most important stomping ground in growing me into the person I am today. This ensemble production was directed by one of my longest and oldest friends, Christina Matthews, the creative director of Droichead Youth Theatre. I was struck by the content of the play. Droichead Youth Theatre always lead on brave brave productions. It always challenges us. This play was no different. It was about teenage cancer and the experience of a young person with cancer. It did not just address that issue. It addressed the complicated and related struggles of teenagers, family dynamics, bullying and romantic relationships or lack thereof as the case was when we moved along in the play. I commend the Droichead Youth Theatre. The topic of young people having cancer is just not a topic that gets a huge amount of air-time.

At the end of the production they wrote an incredible piece about the number of people who have cancer; the Irish Cancer Society funds more than 100 cancer researchers, laboratory researchers and research nurses. All of the things that the Irish Cancer Society does are incredibly important in tackling cancer. Droichead highlighted in 1994 that four out of ten people survived a cancer diagnosis. In 2019 it was six out of ten. Now, eight out of ten young people will be completely cured. I did not know that piece of information until I went to this play and these young people told me. I sit on the Joint Committee on Health and I consider myself quite informed. The young people talked about CanTeen, an Irish organisation that supports people aged between 12 and 25 who have been diagnosed with cancer – again an organisation that I had never heard of. It supports and empowers young people who are facing illness and bridges the gap between childhood and adulthood which is a complicated area. It would be on the front line of battling cancer. I was really shocked when the young people doing this incredible production talked about CanTeen only receiving 3% of its funding from Government. Last year it had to raise €21 million through donations, fund-raising campaigns and charity shops throughout the country, which allowed 1.6 million people throughout Ireland access to free information, advice and support.

I want today to highlight CanTeen. Young people facing cancer is an important issue and we should be concerned about the fact that it only gets 3% of its funding from Government and €21 million comes, as with all sorts of cancer research and funding, through the goodwill of people who have been affected or know someone who has been affected. I just want to put that on the record today and commend Droichead Youth Theatre on raising an issue that was very delicate but dealt with very sensitively.