70. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the number of persons diagnosed with cancer in the State in each of the past ten years; and the number of deaths from cancer in each of the past ten years. [9276/25]

Sentiment score: -0.28

The former Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, previously furnished me with data that showed the number of people diagnosed with cancer was increasing every year until 2020 when the pandemic hit. Then it went significantly down. This suggests that people's cancers went undiagnosed when significant elements of the health services were closed down in 2020. To what extent did this happen?

Sentiment score: -0.11

I look forward to the Minister sending the figures to me. In those figures we know there was a fall of 4,000 in the number of cancer diagnoses in 2020. These are the figures that were given to us by the previous Minister for Health. That fall in cancer diagnoses happened because the Government shut down significant elements of the health service. It stopped the cancer screening processes during that time. This led to a number of people not having their cancers diagnosed in time, and those cancers developed into much more dangerous cancers. What is the Government doing to try to catch up and make sure those individuals get the necessary treatment? I myself had cancer of the skin at that time. I delayed going to the doctor at the time because I listened to the Government's narrative that, unless you were seriously ill, you should not go to the health service. Thank God I was one of the lucky ones to survive it. I am trying to find out how many people died as a result of the delayed diagnoses that happened as a result of the shutting down of the health services in large part in 2020?

Sentiment score: -0.30

The Minister is right that Covid killed many people, for sure. Cancer also killed many people, for sure. We have not had a Covid inquiry yet so we do not know the effectiveness or net benefit in terms of saving people's lives of shutting down hospital services and stopping cancer patients getting treatment. The Minister mentioned survival rates. The National Cancer Registry shows Ireland has a breast cancer survival rate of 82%. Sweden has a 7% higher rate and Britain a 5% higher rate. It is not just about geography; it is also whether you use the public or private system. If you go by the private system for breast cancer, you have a 12% better chance of surviving for five years. There are a number of things I would like the Minister to address and I understand she will not be able to do them all in this question but I want the Government to tackle what happened in 2020 and the effect it had on cancer sufferers. Also, why are we not as good as the likes of Sweden and England in terms of survival rates for breast cancer? Why is it the case that if you are on a low income and use the private sector, you are 12% less likely to survive over five years?

Sentiment score: -0.39