Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Cancer services are a top priority for this Government, and this is shown by the unprecedented funding allocated to the National Cancer Strategy in recent years. Over 2021 and 2022 I secured €40 million in funding for the Strategy, supporting the recruitment of approximately 360 staff to date in cancer services, and €30 million in funding for new cancer drugs.

What this means is that more patients are being seen and waiting times are down. For Rapid Access Clinics for breast, lung and prostate cancer, waiting times for patients are down by 14 to 57 weeks across the clinics, and over 40,000 patients have been seen so far this year, 2,000 more than the same period in 2019. There have been over 10,000 cancer surgeries performed so far this year, 700 more than the same period for 2019. Over 75,000 chemotherapy and other systemic anti-cancer therapies have been administered, 6,500 more than the 2019 figure.

In Budget 2024, I have allocated €3m in funding to the National Cancer Control Programme's Alliance of Community Cancer Support Centres. This funding will help these voluntary and charity organisation centres to deliver services directly to cancer patients and their families. The work of the centres emphasises the importance of quality of life during and after cancer treatment.