I must now deal with a postponed division relating to the motion regarding cancer services. On Wednesday, 18 March 2026, on the question, "That the amendment to the motion be agreed to", a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 85(2), that division must be taken now.
Cancer Services: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]
The following motion was moved by Deputy David Cullinane on Tuesday, 24 March 2026:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
— the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026 is due to end this year, and a new strategy is needed to drive improvements in access to, and the quality of, care from 2027;
— in 2025, 15 per cent of chemotherapy, and 23 per cent of radiotherapy, patients did not get access to treatment in the target timeframe;
— in 2025, 45 per cent of breast cancer surgeries and 39 per cent of lung cancer surgeries, and in 2024, 61 per cent of prostate cancer surgeries, did not happen within the target timeframe;
— a postcode lottery exists in access to care, with access within target timeframes ranging from as low as 60 per cent in some areas, to upwards of 95 per cent in other communities;
— this State has below European Union average levels of diagnostic and imaging equipment, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Computerized Tomography, and Positron Emission Tomography scanners, which is leading to significant delays in access to care, particularly surgeries, and this is caused by a combination of a low density of equipment, out-dated equipment, and poor utilisation of existing equipment;
— there has been a highly concerning shortfall in the number of women screened for breast cancer, with BreastCheck only screening 75 per cent of the anticipated number of women in 2025, which already assumes a 30 per cent fall off from the number of women invited for screening; and
— the most recent implementation review found that only 1 of 23 National Cancer Strategy objectives had been met;
considers that:
— cancer services need a clear roadmap and guaranteed funding levels for the next decade to deliver key enablers, detailed planning, and turn gold standard targets from aspirations into real deliverables;
— the mission of the new cancer strategy must be to improve standards, timely access to care, patient outcomes, quality of life, efficiencies, and innovation;
— a new strategy must include a strong emphasis on prevention, early detection, and proactive treatment of primary drivers, as well as of cancers themselves;
— a new strategy must address access to care, workforce challenges, equipment and infrastructure deficits, research, innovation, all-island planning, and the post-code lottery which currently exists for services;
— a new strategy presents a significant opportunity to drive all-island collaboration in improving cancer care and outcomes, and all-island planning, training, and delivery should feature prominently in a new strategy; and
— clearly identified, protected, and guaranteed new developments funding should be provided to underpin a new strategy, through a multi-annual funding framework averaging €30 million a year, each year, in additional new developments funding;
condemns the failure of Government to provide and clearly identify ring-fenced new developments funding for the National Cancer Strategy in 5 of the 10 Budgets over the lifespan of the current strategy;
resolves that a new cancer strategy should:
— guarantee timely access to cancer diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and follow up care;
— end postcode and income-based inequality;
— provide multi-annual funding certainty;
— expand capacity in line with projected demand;
— strictly manage expenditure to ensure cost-effectiveness without losing sight of the critical social and economic benefits of health investment;
— strengthen all-island cancer cooperation;
— reduce the financial and social burden of cancer; and
— position Ireland as a leader in research and innovation; and
calls on the Government to:
— commit to a new cancer strategy, to cover the period 2027 to 2037;
— guarantee €30 million in additional new developments funding each year, to underpin delivery of the new strategy;
— end the postcode lottery in access to cancer care, through targeted investment;
— implement a specific campaign to increase uptake of BreastCheck, catch up on women who did not attend screening invitations, and provide the option for information on breast density through BreastCheck;
— implement a managed programme for replacing outdated equipment;
— mandate Health Service Executive Regions to implement site specific equipment utilisation plans, including roster reform agreed with workers, to maximise use of existing equipment;
— extend service hours in the evening and over weekends, following constructive engagement with workers, for diagnostic imaging, laboratories, and treatment options, and ensure a commensurate increase in staffing levels, to maximise utilisation of equipment and capacity;
— fund additional training places in areas of strategic need in the health workforce, and work with graduates to ensure employment in the Irish health service;
— abolish hospital car parking charges for patients and visitors;
— immediately increase medical card thresholds in line with GP visit card thresholds, and increase funding for discretionary medical cards, to widen compassionate access;
— increase the health capital budget to €2.5 billion per annum for the remainder of the National Development Plan, to ensure sufficient funding for all of the Government's infrastructure commitments in Health;
— adopt a systematic approach towards clinical trials and life sciences innovation, aiming to make Ireland a world leader in clinical trials and the development of new medicines and therapies; and
— place Sláintecare wait time targets into law.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"notes that:
— while a large proportion of cancers are preventable, our growing and ageing population is a key driving factor behind the increase in cancers;
— today, over 220,000 people in Ireland are living with or after cancer, a 50 per cent increase compared to a decade ago;
— the National Cancer Registry predicts that 1 in 2 people will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime;
— fortunately, survival rates for patients after receiving a cancer diagnosis have continued to improve, with 65 per cent of patients living five years after a cancer diagnosis in 2014-2018, compared to 44 per cent in 1994-1998;
— Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data shows that cancer mortality rates in Ireland are falling faster than the European Union average, and faster than our economic peers;
— these improvements were achieved under reforms delivered by three consecutive National Cancer Strategies, dating back to 1996, and these Strategies provided a clear, evidence-based, approach to cancer control, taking a whole-of-population perspective;
— the current strategy was launched in July 2017, setting out an ambitious set of actions to be completed within 10 years, and an evaluation of the strategy will be conducted this year, and the outcome of this will inform the development of the next strategy;
— the new strategy will provide an important opportunity to plan for the introduction of new therapies and treatments across the cancer continuum from prevention, screening, treatment, survivorship and palliative care;
— the current strategy contains 52 recommendations, with 43 of these having been implemented, and the National Cancer Control Programme is continuing to progress implementation of the remaining nine;
— the National Cancer Control Programme plays a key role in the planning and oversight of cancer services, setting national standards, monitoring regional performance and driving service reform;
— cancer services are delivered by a large and dedicated workforce, who strive to provide the best possible care for their patients;
— while services have improved overall, unfortunately, there are periodic regional variations in the performance of some services, and the transition to the new regional health structure, with greater autonomy and stronger performance accountability at local level, is designed specifically to address regional inequality and to improve patient outcomes;
— since the beginning of the current National Cancer Strategy in 2017, the Government has allocated €105 million to the National Cancer Strategy to support cancer services and improve outcomes for patients;
— this has enabled the recruitment of over 670 staff to our national cancer services, including the recruitment of an additional 180 staff to national cancer screening and treatment services as of the end of 2025;
— between 2021 and 2024, approval for reimbursement by the Health Service Executive (HSE) was given for 74 drugs for cancer, and the total spend on cancer drugs in this period exceeded €645 million;
— capital funding of over €140 million has been used to provide state of the art radiation oncology facilities in Galway and Cork, to establish a National Cervical Screening Laboratory, and to update cancer infrastructure in chemotherapy wards and lab facilities;
— more widely, the 2025 National Development Plan (NDP) review secured the largest ever capital investment plan in the history of the State and largest investment ever in health infrastructure in the State, and the NDP Health capital allocation is €1.56 billion for 2026 and the enhanced NDP provision for the health sector for 2026–2030 is €9.25 billion;
— the Government is progressing multiannual budgeting across the health services, and capital investment is already on a multiyear basis;
— since 2020, total staff working in Government funded HSE services has risen by over 22,000 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE), from 107,000 WTE to 129,600 at the end of January 2026, an increase of 21 per cent;
— the HSE continues to focus on service expansion and improvement, and the National Cancer Control Programme has developed a number of programmes to improve capacity at specialist cancer centres, and to support patients in avoiding Emergency Departments;
— the Government has provided significant investment in cancer screening programmes in recent years, and funding of €2.9 million was provided in 2025, to support the recruitment of 22 WTE posts, 15 additional WTE posts were also approved to help expand and futureproof the programme to meet increasing demand, and in 2025, 173,000 women participated in screening, the highest number in BreastCheck's history;
— the Programme for Government contains a commitment to extend the Laura Brennan Programme to anyone under 25 who missed it, and in January 2026, it was announced that the Laura Brennan Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Vaccine Catch-Up Programme would be reopened, to offer an additional opportunity for students in fifth and sixth year of post-primary school to receive HPV vaccination in 2026;
— the Productivity and Savings Taskforce is advancing improvements in equipment utilisation, diagnostics and theatre capacity, including through roster reforms and extended hours where required;
— the expansion and rollout of the Public Only Consultant Contract, alongside the revised 2025 Framework Agreement with health sector trade unions, provides a strong platform to support the extension of services;
— through the National Plan for Radiation Oncology, a major equipment replacement and expansion programme is being progressed, including replacing 14 linear accelerators at St. Luke's Radiation Oncology Network and adding two at Beaumont, with associated diagnostic upgrades;
— new advanced services including CAR-T cell therapy and advanced radiotherapy have been introduced, removing the need for certain cohorts to travel abroad;
— significant Government investment is being provided to expand healthcare education, and within the last training year, the total number of doctors enrolled in training programmes has increased by 7 per cent, with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science recently announcing a €28.5 million investment to support the delivery of more than 1,100 additional healthcare training places annually over the next three years across medicine, nursing, therapy professions, pharmacy and dentistry;
— almost 1,600 first year students now enrol in medicine each year, along with 2,200 nurses; and
— in June 2025, the Government approved a significant expansion in training places for Health and Social Care Professions, and this saw up to 310 additional student places created in 2025, and a further 151 in subsequent years, including 23 additional places in radiotherapy and 80 additional places in radiography across 2025 and 2026.".
- (Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kieran O'Donnell)
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 79; Níl, 69; Staon, 0.
Tá
- Aird, William.
- Ardagh, Catherine.
- Boland, Grace.
- Brabazon, Tom.
- Brennan, Brian.
- Brennan, Shay.
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Burke, Colm.
- Burke, Peter.
- Butler, Mary.
- Buttimer, Jerry.
- Byrne, Malcolm.
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Cahill, Michael.
- Callaghan, Catherine.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Canney, Seán.
- Carrigy, Micheál.
- Cleere, Peter 'Chap'.
- Collins, Niall.
- Connolly, John.
- Cooney, Joe.
- Crowe, Cathal.
- Currie, Emer.
- Daly, Martin.
- Dempsey, Aisling.
- Devlin, Cormac.
- Dillon, Alan.
- Dolan, Albert.
- Feighan, Frankie.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Foley, Norma.
- Gallagher, Pat the Cope.
- Grealish, Noel.
- Harkin, Marian.
- Healy-Rae, Michael.
- Heneghan, Barry.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Higgins, Emer.
- Keogh, Keira.
- Lahart, John.
- Lawless, James.
- Lowry, Michael.
- Maxwell, David.
- McAuliffe, Paul.
- McCarthy, Noel.
- McConalogue, Charlie.
- McCormack, Tony.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGrath, Séamus.
- McGreehan, Erin.
- Moran, Kevin Boxer.
- Moynihan, Aindrias.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Moynihan, Shane.
- Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
- Murphy, Michael.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- Neville, Joe.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Callaghan, Jim.
- O'Connell, Maeve.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Meara, Ryan.
- O'Shea, John Paul.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher.
- Ó Cearúil, Naoise.
- Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
- Ó Muirí, Naoise.
- Richmond, Neale.
- Scanlon, Eamon.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Timmins, Edward.
- Toole, Gillian.
- Troy, Robert.
- Ward, Barry.
Níl
- Ahern, Ciarán.
- Bacik, Ivana.
- Bennett, Cathy.
- Boyd Barrett, Richard.
- Brady, John.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Byrne, Joanna.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Collins, Michael.
- Conway-Walsh, Rose.
- Coppinger, Ruth.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Cummins, Jen.
- Daly, Pa.
- Devine, Máire.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Farrell, Mairéad.
- Fitzmaurice, Michael.
- Gannon, Gary.
- Gibney, Sinéad.
- Gogarty, Paul Nicholas.
- Gould, Thomas.
- Graves, Ann.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Hayes, Eoin.
- Hearne, Rory.
- Kelly, Alan.
- Kenny, Eoghan.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Lawless, Paul.
- Lawlor, George.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McDonald, Mary Lou.
- McGettigan, Donna.
- McGuinness, Conor D.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Mythen, Johnny.
- Nash, Ged.
- Newsome Drennan, Natasha.
- Ní Raghallaigh, Shónagh.
- Nolan, Carol.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Donoghue, Robert.
- O'Flynn, Ken.
- O'Gorman, Roderic.
- O'Hara, Louis.
- O'Reilly, Louise.
- O'Rourke, Darren.
- Ó Broin, Eoin.
- Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
- Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- Ó Súilleabháin, Fionntán.
- Quaide, Liam.
- Quinlivan, Maurice.
- Rice, Pádraig.
- Sheehan, Conor.
- Sherlock, Marie.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Wall, Mark.
- Ward, Mark.
- Whitmore, Jennifer.
Staon
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Mary Butler and Emer Currie; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell.
Amendment declared carried.
Question put: "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to."
The Dáil divided: Tá, 79; Níl, 69; Staon, 0.
Tá
- Aird, William.
- Ardagh, Catherine.
- Boland, Grace.
- Brabazon, Tom.
- Brennan, Brian.
- Brennan, Shay.
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Burke, Colm.
- Burke, Peter.
- Butler, Mary.
- Buttimer, Jerry.
- Byrne, Malcolm.
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Cahill, Michael.
- Callaghan, Catherine.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Canney, Seán.
- Carrigy, Micheál.
- Cleere, Peter 'Chap'.
- Collins, Niall.
- Connolly, John.
- Cooney, Joe.
- Crowe, Cathal.
- Currie, Emer.
- Daly, Martin.
- Dempsey, Aisling.
- Devlin, Cormac.
- Dillon, Alan.
- Dolan, Albert.
- Feighan, Frankie.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Foley, Norma.
- Gallagher, Pat the Cope.
- Grealish, Noel.
- Harkin, Marian.
- Healy-Rae, Michael.
- Heneghan, Barry.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Higgins, Emer.
- Keogh, Keira.
- Lahart, John.
- Lawless, James.
- Lowry, Michael.
- Maxwell, David.
- McAuliffe, Paul.
- McCarthy, Noel.
- McConalogue, Charlie.
- McCormack, Tony.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGrath, Séamus.
- McGreehan, Erin.
- Moran, Kevin Boxer.
- Moynihan, Aindrias.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Moynihan, Shane.
- Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
- Murphy, Michael.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- Neville, Joe.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Callaghan, Jim.
- O'Connell, Maeve.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Meara, Ryan.
- O'Shea, John Paul.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher.
- Ó Cearúil, Naoise.
- Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
- Ó Muirí, Naoise.
- Richmond, Neale.
- Scanlon, Eamon.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Timmins, Edward.
- Toole, Gillian.
- Troy, Robert.
- Ward, Barry.
Níl
- Ahern, Ciarán.
- Bacik, Ivana.
- Bennett, Cathy.
- Boyd Barrett, Richard.
- Brady, John.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Byrne, Joanna.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Collins, Michael.
- Conway-Walsh, Rose.
- Coppinger, Ruth.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Cummins, Jen.
- Daly, Pa.
- Devine, Máire.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Farrell, Mairéad.
- Fitzmaurice, Michael.
- Gannon, Gary.
- Gibney, Sinéad.
- Gogarty, Paul Nicholas.
- Gould, Thomas.
- Graves, Ann.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Hayes, Eoin.
- Hearne, Rory.
- Kelly, Alan.
- Kenny, Eoghan.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Lawless, Paul.
- Lawlor, George.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McDonald, Mary Lou.
- McGettigan, Donna.
- McGuinness, Conor D.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Mythen, Johnny.
- Nash, Ged.
- Newsome Drennan, Natasha.
- Ní Raghallaigh, Shónagh.
- Nolan, Carol.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Donoghue, Robert.
- O'Flynn, Ken.
- O'Gorman, Roderic.
- O'Hara, Louis.
- O'Reilly, Louise.
- O'Rourke, Darren.
- Ó Broin, Eoin.
- Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
- Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- Ó Súilleabháin, Fionntán.
- Quaide, Liam.
- Quinlivan, Maurice.
- Rice, Pádraig.
- Sheehan, Conor.
- Sherlock, Marie.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Wall, Mark.
- Ward, Mark.
- Whitmore, Jennifer.
Staon
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Mary Butler and Emer Currie; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell.
Question declared carried.