Cancer Services
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-27
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Fiona O'Loughlin (FF), Administrative Panel

I thank the Minister of State for being here. We know that aside from skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in Ireland. Approximately one in seven women will be diagnosed with it. The HSE provides a variety of treatment options for women with breast cancer depending on its stage, grade and severity. Among these options is a mastectomy, which is a procedure that removes the breast after which patients can have breast reconstruction surgery, a procedure that replaces the breast tissue previously removed.
Unfortunately, though, today, quite a number of women who have received mastectomies are experiencing excessive waiting times for reconstruction surgery. We know that women often have a choice to make between receiving breast reconstruction immediately after undergoing a mastectomy or waiting to have a reconstruction done in the future, which is what we call "delayed reconstruction".
Sometimes, a mastectomy is not recommended given a patient's circumstances and health. Quite often, for medical reasons, immediate reconstruction is not possible. For other women, there are myriad different reasons they cannot at that point have it. Indeed, one woman who spoke to me said she was given four days to make her mind up. She was just devastated at the impact of having a mastectomy and could not imagine spending several more hours undergoing that operation. People need to be mentally ready to have that type of surgery.
Many have been waiting for between four and seven years on public waiting lists. I know of some who had mastectomies in 2021 and are still waiting. In the case of one woman who came to me a number of weeks ago, sadly, the surgeon she had in St. Vincent's has passed away. At every subsequent meeting she has had for a check-up and examination, which was every three months initially, then every six months and is now a year, she has had a different surgeon every time. The delayed reconstruction was requested, but she discovered only two weeks ago that that was never acted on within her notes. Even though she has asked for it multiple times, her request was never acted on. It was referred to another hospital two years ago and is now at the bottom of its waiting list.
This situation has a huge impact on mental health and well-being. It causes prolonged distress, anxiety and frustration, impacts on confidence and self-esteem and leads to people avoiding things like swimming, holidays, social events and intimacy. There are, of course, restrictions on clothing and daily activities. There is an ongoing sense of being unfinished in recovery, and this is really the key thing I wish to ask about here. The recovery and treatment should cover everything up to the end of the reconstruction. I do want to acknowledge my party colleague Senator Teresa Costello, who has spoken about this quite a lot, including a few months ago. Delayed reconstruction is now categorised as non-urgent, despite substantial psychological consequences, and I am asking the Minister of State to have it classified as urgent.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:33+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27