Health Strategies Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-13 ============================================================ Kieran O'Donnell (FG), Limerick City I thank Senator Costello for raising this important matter. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister for Health. I welcome the opportunity to discuss the national cancer strategy and I recognise the Senator’s commitment to this topic. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the launch of Ireland’s first national cancer strategy. It is an opportune time to reflect on the progress that has been made since 1996 and to look ahead to how we may build upon what has already been achieved. Research has shown that Ireland's consecutive national cancer strategies have been a significant factor in improving patient outcomes. A study published in the Journal of Cancer Policy just this year lauded Ireland's strategic approach to cancer control as among the highest across the countries examined. Ireland's consecutive national cancer strategies have ensured that international best practice has been adopted where possible and, as a result, they have transformed patient outcomes in cancer care. Since its launch in 2017, the Government has allocated €105 million to the current national cancer strategy to support cancer services and improve outcomes for patients. This is in addition to over €140 million in capital investment in cancer infrastructure. In the intervening years, very significant progress has been made in improving cancer services and there are now over 220,000 people living with or beyond cancer, 50% more than there were a decade ago. I note the Senator acknowledged that improvements have taken place. Investment under the strategy has also ensured that more patients are being seen in specialist centres, are being reviewed by multidisciplinary teams and are receiving better supports during and after treatment. The current strategy, which was published in June 2017, contains 52 recommendations. To date, 43 of these have been implemented and the HSE national cancer control programme is continuing to progress the remaining nine. These will continue to drive further reforms and service improvements in this final year of the strategy. I suggest that the Senator write to the Minister directly for an update on the remaining nine recommendations. Early work on the next national cancer strategy has already begun. An evaluation will first be carried out in collaboration with key stakeholders such as the HSE's national cancer control programme and the National Cancer Registry of Ireland. Other stakeholders include patients and their families, healthcare professionals, Government agencies, research institutions and advocacy groups. These stakeholders will also play a major role in informing the development of the next strategy. While evaluation of actions to date will inform the direction of the next strategy, opportunities in known emerging areas in cancer control can be and should also be examined. The increasing use of personalised medicine, innovation in data and AI tools and sustainable prevention measures will all likely play a role in the future of cancer control. The Government and the Minister for Health remain committed to a strategic approach to cancer control at a national level and to continuing to build on improvements to services and better outcomes for patients. The Senator raised CT scans and other issues and they will be brought to the attention of the Minister. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-13/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:56+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-13