Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome our colleagues from the Irish Cancer Society. I thank them for all the work they have been doing. They are assisting us in our work in the House. I thank them on behalf of everybody who has felt the benefit of the Irish Cancer Society. I thank the Minister of State very much for coming to the House to discuss this very important motion tabled by Fine Gael colleagues. I commend all of them on working on this, in particular Senator Kyne.

I know the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, are very committed to cancer services and the Government has been delivering continued improvement over the past four years. There has been additional investment of €456 million in cancer prevention screening treatment, cancer medicines, etc. Capital funding of more than €120 million has been used to provide state-of-the-art radiation oncology facilities in Galway and Cork. There has been an increase in the rate of survival from cancer. That is to be welcomed because we all know somebody who has been touched by cancer in our families or communities. As people live longer, they are going to get cancer and that is just a fact of biology and science. We need to be able to support people who get cancer to access prevention and other services. The screening services have been brilliant. My mother's cancer was picked up at a BreastCheck mobile unit very early and dealt with excellently. However, we need to do more to encourage people to attend for screening across all the cancer areas and invest more in that.

The work the Government has done with regard to smoking and vaping has been excellent but we need to go further. There is no reason for anybody to smoke. We need to be cutting it out. Anybody who is currently a smoker needs to be supported to come off it. I actually do not know any smoker who is happy being a smoker. They all want to come off it. We need to support people to come off that awful addictive substance that is pushed on them by a massive money-making industry. We need to do more about vaping because evidence is emerging that it is as harmful as smoking to young people in particular. All these things need to be looked at and I know the Government will do that.

There are other issues not touched on in this motion, however. Colleagues in the House have raised the issue of medical cards for cancer patients. It is something I would like the Government to look at coming into budget negotiation season. It would make a huge difference to people with cancer to get a medical card without having to jump through hoops and appeals. They have enough on their plate.

This motion was focused on cancer services in the west and the points have been very well made. However, I point out that, even in Dublin, where we are closer to cancer services, there are big differences in outcomes depending on where people live and depending on their economic circumstances. That is not acceptable. I would like the Government to have a special task force to look at improving outcomes and narrowing those gaps for people. It should not be that people are more likely to get cancer if they live in a lower income area or come from a lower income family. It should not be that their survival rates are lessened. This is happening in Dublin and other urban centres that have cancer facilities close by. That is a glaring gap in our thinking and in our approach to cancer services.

I commend the many cancer support groups that provide such a valuable service. The Balbriggan cancer support group in my constituency is a wonderful service. The Rush Daffodil Day fundraising committee has ensured more than €1 million has been raised in the town of Rush in recent years for the Irish Cancer Society. It is the largest amount of money to the Irish Cancer Society per capita in the country. We are very proud of that. Many people are working towards improving cancer services. While the Government has done an awful lot, there is more to improve. I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's response and to working with him to deliver better cancer services for everybody.