Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Burke. I had the privilege of working with him in the Seanad when he was a Member and it is wonderful that he is back as a Minister of State.

I congratulate and thank my colleague, Senator Kyne, for bringing forward the motion and taking the trouble to write it up very effectively. Senator Kyne is a conviction politician and he is very sincere about this issue. I thank him for doing that.

I salute the volunteers, the people in towns and villages all over this country who do voluntary work for patients with cancer and their families. I am thinking, in my own village, of Eugene and Edel Fox, who, with others, are on the executive committee of a group, Bailieborough Cancer Comfort. They provide a taxi service to Dublin for people undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments and provide support to families undergoing chemotherapy in Cavan when it is available there. These are wonderful people. I met them yesterday and, as I should and as anyone else in the House would have done, I made a voluntary contribution to CUAN Cavan. It is a support group for cancer patients in Cavan town that is currently fundraising for a new drop-in centre where people will have the support of peers with cancer, people who have recovered from cancer, family and volunteers. There are also psychological and counselling supports. It is a wonderful set-up operated by wonderful people and was spearheaded initially by a wonderful friend of mine, Helen Quinn. Those people are great in what they do.

I, of course, salute the Irish Cancer Society. The daffodil nurses - the cancer care nurses it provides - are very important. The society gave us some interesting statistics which bring the reality of the whole thing into perspective. Its brochure, Cancer by Numbers, shows that some 42,000 people get cancer in Ireland every year. We are 13th of the 27 EU states in terms of recovery, which is disappointing and needs to be addressed. There are on average some 10,308 cancer deaths every year in Ireland and 215,000 people are living beyond cancer diagnosis - we meet them every day as we walk around. A person in Ireland hears the words “You have cancer” every three minutes. Those are all major statistics that show the reality.

We give a medical card to people with cancer, which is as it should be. I ask the Minister of State to look at the prospect of medical cards for women who are diagnosed with breast cancer and men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer. The Minister of State can correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is that in both cases people have to undergo a means test unless the cancer has spread. To be truthful, I think that is wrong, particularly given how rich the country is at the moment. In terms of prioritising expenditure, it is wrong. I know the Minister of State has a personal interest in this so he might respond on the medical cards. It is very important.

I agree with all of the talk on prevention. Senator Seery Kearney said we need to deal with vaping and a Private Members’ Bill did go through the House recently. In fairness, there has been great focus by the Government on the vaping issue. It needs to deal with this.As for the loss of income in costs associated with suffering from cancer, the Irish Cancer Society estimates it costs a family anywhere from €756 to €1,000 per month. They can lose up to €1,500 per month in income. That is a really big one.

I am very proud and I salute the work it does. I thank the Acting Chair for doing what he did as it is important we put this on the record. My wife is a public health nurse. She does some of these calls at the weekend. The palliative care people in the HSE and the palliative care nurses do extraordinary work. It merits saluting. It should be supported and it needs universality. Generally, they need to move in as early as possible when families will accept them. Together with the Irish Cancer Society nurses, this is a very important initiative. Certainly, I am proud of my wife's work and the work of other colleagues who specifically work in palliative care full-time, which is extraordinary.

My time is nearly finished. Basically, medical cards, practical supports for transport and all of that should be in place. It should not just be a question of volunteers; there should be a support network transport-wise for people to receive treatment. Income supports should be provided where a family can prove the whole family income is gone and that it is down money. They can sometimes get in as a preventative measure or get sick pay and so forth. While it is great when they do, these things can be phased out.

It is a great debate and I congratulate Senator Kyne in this regard. We have to follow this up with actions. For that reason, the Minister of State's response will be interesting. We need actual results from this. We need to salute what is good already and to try to improve what is not and make more efforts.