Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, to the House. I second Senator Ardagh's comments on the Bill. I congratulate and compliment her on her work, diligence and tenacity and for chairing the cross-party committee. Today is an important day. The Senator is right that it is about ensuring better outcomes for people. Our debate today, while it may be about a technical Bill, is about the quality of life of people. I welcome our distinguished visitors in the Gallery and thank them for their advocacy and work on what I hope will be an occasion on which the House is not divided and consensus is reached.

Let me start at the beginning, with the question of why we are here. The Irish Cancer Society has a tremendous reach, to every corner of society. Take Daffodil Day as an example of what it does. It brings young and old, urban and rural, together under the umbrella of the society and allows people to share their stories. Some have the worst of outcomes and others have tremendous outcomes.In the middle of all of this, it allows people to speak about cancer and the import it has in the lives of so many. There is not one of us in this Chamber today who has not had a family member or friend affected by cancer. Today's Bill reaches out and says that the medical history is one part is a story - a significant one - but it should not be the only thing that defines a person in their interaction with financial institutions, for example. That is why Senator Ardagh deserves great praise for being able to say to all of us - the Government and the financial institutions - that they should hold on a moment. She used some very interesting words in her contribution such as "remission" and "recovery". Our outcomes today for cancer are way better than they were 20 or 40 years ago and, as a consequence, the evolving nature of medicine means that people's outcomes with cancer are better, which is fantastic.

I sincerely thank all who are involved in working with and caring for people who have cancer. We can all look at the various institutions today, such as the Marymount University Hospital and Hospice and St. Luke's Home in Cork, where people are on their final journey or are on their journey home with a wonderful outcome. Let us look at what Sam Russell has stated in his research. He says: "I know I will go on to live a healthy life as outcomes for this condition [of thyroid cancer] are excellent." In her contribution, Senator Ardagh also referred to the following line: "I don’t have life insurance and I’ll need mortgage protection in the coming years when I go to buy a house, but at the moment I have no certainty as to whether I’ll be offered coverage when that point comes." The trauma of being a cancer patient is one part. After that, there is the recovery piece and the emotional stress and worry about the future. Once people have dealt with the physical trauma, they then worry about their future and whether they can provide for themselves or their family. The word "certainty" comes to mind. What we are trying to do here today is to create certainty.

Another point in the research struck me. I want Members to listen to it because it is powerful.

It will be a roll of the dice, and it's unfair as I’m being punished for something that's not my fault. It's a problem I wouldn't have to face in other countries, and it seems like such an easy fix to me.

The easy fix sometimes becomes the more difficult fix. We can put up myriad reasons as to why we cannot do 1, 2 and 3 or A, B and C. To be fair to the Minister of State, he has championed significant reform in insurance. He has driven through the various logjams that were there. Similarly, we can do the same here. The fundamental aim in the Bill is to support people and give them certainty, to allow for life to continue and peace of mind. The right to be forgotten beyond cancer is not just a slogan or a fancy term that we use as a gimmick to get a headline in a newspaper or in an advertisement brochure. It is important to have a right to be forgotten beyond cancer. Therefore, this Bill is important.

There is another piece that is important today, which illustrates what we have become very good at doing in the Houses of the Oireachtas. I refer to the establishment of cross-party groups to deal with issues. Today, it is about cancer. Alzheimer's disease is another issue, as is special needs education. We did it with Brexit in this House. It allows Members to work together in a non-adversarial way, not in the glare of media publicity or under the watchful eye of people. It allows us to become involved and immersed in an issue and to discuss, debate and tease out the minutiae, as you have done, Acting Chair, with surrogacy and other issues. I give you credit in that regard.

I know the Government takes the view that we can cross the bridge when we come to it. However, the engagement must not only happen before a Bill comes to the House. For that reason, if we are to take our role as legislators even more seriously than we do, as a former Chair of the health committee I am a strong proponent in this House of the pre-legislative scrutiny of legislation. In the context of the Bill before the House, would it not be an idea for us to have pre-legislative scrutiny of it in a committee, either health or finance, or even both committees together? When former Deputy Ó Caoláin was on the health committee with me, he proposed that we work with the former Minister of State, then Chair of the justice committee, Deputy Stanton and the two committees worked together on drugs. It was brilliant. We brought two committees together. We do it on a North-South dimension between Stormont and here. I do not know why we cannot do it in these situations, rather than have issues pertaining to timed amendments or an adjournment of the debate. To be fair to the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, he has been very open and supportive of the Bill.

This is about eliminating discrimination and not disenfranchising people. It is a necessary reform. It is about people. People must be at the centre of everything we do in politics, and the work we do must be dedicated to making their lives better and providing a better outcome.

I compliment Senator Ardagh on the tremendous work that she has done. This is a Bill we should all wrap ourselves around and support because it improves and enhances people's lives and gives them certainty in terms of the right to be forgotten beyond cancer. I thank Senator Ardagh.