Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, back to the Seanad. I thank Fine Gael for bringing forward this very important motion.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in Ireland. It is a sobering fact that one in two people will develop it in their lives. To put it another way, 42,000 people a year will get a cancer diagnosis. What is even more sobering is the fact that Ireland has the third highest mortality rate from cancer in western Europe, yet despite this, approximately 70 out of 240 radiation therapy posts are vacant. Meanwhile, current radiation therapists are facing burnout as they work longer days just to make up for staff shortages. The shortage of staff is also having an impact on the operation of equipment in St. Luke's Radiation Oncology Network, where one linear accelerator is closed and a skin cancer machine is only operating part time. In Cork University Hospital, both the linear accelerator and a CT scanner have lain idle for three years and are no longer used. University Hospital Galway has recently acquired a new scanner but it faces uncertain operation due to staff shortages and the recruitment embargo.

These issues have not happened by accident. They are a direct result of conscious political decisions that have been made by this Government and previous governments that have failed to properly fund the cancer strategies, as Senator Hoey mentioned, for five out of the past seven years. They failed to properly plan and grow the workforce and to resolve overcrowding. They also failed to meet 22 of the 23 objectives laid out in the cancer strategy. These failures see staff work excessive hours to overcome staff shortages. They also mean expensive lifesaving equipment lies idle due to staffing shortages. The failures further mean that cancer surgeries are cancelled because of hospital overcrowding. These failures mean we are now in a position where there is a real risk that services will not improve and will regress in many areas. These are not just my views or those of Sinn Féin. They are the views of the Irish Cancer Society, clinicians and medics who work in cancer care. They are the views of our experts, who cannot be brushed aside.

The service can be fixed. We know what works and what needs to be done. The first and second national cancer strategies were the poster child, as it were, of the health service, and rightly so. Many of us commended the real progress made under them. The reason progress was made was funding was given to put in place the additional supports, staff, infrastructure and healthcare capacity that could deliver better health and cancer outcomes for patients.

The amount needed is equally evident. The motion acknowledges the €3 million provided in budget 2024 to support the work of the community cancer support centres, but this is a drop in the ocean when compared with the €20 million that was needed in 2024 to fund the national cancer strategy properly. The fact is that, for the past several years, the national cancer strategy has not got any additional funding and this means all the additional staff who are needed and all the additional measures that need to be implemented to ensure cancer patients have the optimal healthcare outcome have not been put in place. The crisis in our health service and in cancer services has got worse during 13 years of Harris, Varadkar and Donnelly as health Ministers. We need to adequately fund the cancer strategy on a multi-annual basis. We also need to end the recruitment embargo, engage with workers, and recruit and retain enough radiation therapists and radiographers. In addition, we must fund the 1,500 beds needed to make our hospitals safe.