Programme for Government
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-04
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Peadar Tóibín (AON), Meath West

Today is World Cancer Day. I am a cancer survivor. I am lucky. I am in good health. I have seen the improvements in science and medicine which save lives every day.
However, I have also seen first hand the fact that the State's health system discriminates against some people who have cancer. I will give the Taoiseach a number of examples. There were a quarter of a million fewer people who had cervical, bowel or breast screening in 2020 than in 2019, and we have still not caught up with the number of people who missed out on screening at that time. A quarter of all cancer patients at the moment are left waiting for longer than three weeks, even though that is a timescale in which they should achieve radiation therapy if that is what they need in relation to good health. A woman from Limerick has a 15% lower chance of survival than a person from Cavan in relation to breast cancer because of the differentials geographically on survival rates. If you go to a public hospital, you have a 12% less chance of survival than if you go to a private hospital. In Britain, for example, you are 5% more likely to survive breast cancer. This is not good enough. We need to make sure every single patient is treated fairly across the geographic and demographic spaces in this country.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:35+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-04