Like every other county in Ireland and, I suppose, other places across the world, Kerry has its fair share of cancer patients. Sadly, many people have passed on at a young age as a result of cancer. As a public representative, I come across more than my share of these patients from day to day. Kerry is lacking in many ways because of the distances involved. A person with cancer who lives in Cahersiveen, Dingle, Lauragh or other places nearby is 50 miles or 60 miles from Tralee, in the first instance, and over 100 miles from Cork. Kerry has been promised, in the grounds of University Hospital Kerry, UHK, oncology services. We are still waiting for those. Comfort for Chemo Kerry has done a lot of fundraising for this project, which the HSE has approved. These services would help a lot of people who are currently to CUH for treatment. I thank those who operate the "cancer bus" that takes people for treatment, chemotherapy or whatever. That bus is funded on a voluntary basis. If anything deserves to be funded by the State, it is the bus that takes patients for treatment. When people get cancer, they should be entitled to medical cards. Whatever means you have or whatever number of children, you are not able to work and you need a medical card to pay for treatment. Otherwise, you are treated as a second-class citizen. People feel like that. Early diagnosis is of paramount importance, as is early treatment. We need to ensure that happens in every case.

Sentiment score: 0.03

The other thing we must look at is what is causing it. I have been saying that the South American beef is not vetted in the same way as Irish beef, and I am worried about that.

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