Marie Sherlock
Dublin Central · Labour Party · Ireland
“That is why I want to see our local authorities moving from being just bystanders that license waste collection companies to actually controlling how the service is delivered.”
“That is why I want to pay tribute to all the people who are here today, including Stoneybatter Pride of Place, Phibsboro Village Tidy Towns and all the people working within their communities to keep them clean.”
“Panda’s parent company, Beauparc, sold for €1.3 billion in 2021 to an Australian investment firm. It is also co-owned by a US private equity firm. They are not in Ireland for the good of their health. They are here because they know they can make serious money. We know Greyhound’s parent company is registered on the Isle of Man.”
“The other important thing to say is that we did not hear any new ideas today, and I say that with the greatest respect to the Minister of State. We did not hear any ideas with regard to the profound challenges we have regarding our plateauing recycling rates and all the other issues that are there. That is disappointing.”
“I pay tribute to a lot of the work that many officials and workers in Dublin City Council do because, in some ways, their hands are tied behind their back. They recognise the issue with regard to landlord responsibility. I am very disappointed to hear the Minister of State's comments about landlord responsibility.”
“Dublin City Council was able to negotiate for the installation of ten-tonne compactors in the commercial areas, yet when it came to the residential areas, I understand the council tried to negotiate with the bin collectors on the roll-out of shared collection systems, but to no avail. That pretty much sums up our dysfunctional system.”
The complete record
Every one of 845 lines we hold for Marie Sherlock, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 4 of 17.
“I apologise that I could not be here earlier. We were dealing with the ambulance strike due to take place next Tuesday so I missed the earlier contributions. I do not know who wrote the Government's countermotion this morning but the people sitting around the Cabinet table who signed off on it this afternoon and the person who wrote this have their heads in the clouds. Everything in the Government's countermotion suggest an aloof and, worse, an indifference or callousness towards the appalling conditions in which far too many council tenants in this city find themselves living. Of course, there has been progress - none of us is denying that - particularly in the north-west inner city in recent years in Constitution Hill, Dorset Street, and O'Devaney Gardens.”
“Some of the changes encompassed by the provisions in the Bill will be ground-breaking. Our collective hope is that we will have a much healthier and transparent mental health system for those who suffer mental ill-health. I will conclude on the point that the legislation will on succeed if the resources are provided and there is proper oversight. When issues are flagged by the Mental Health Commission - we know that there have been delays in terms of responses in the past on foot of resourcing or other issues - we must ensure that they are responded to accordingly. I commend the Minister of State on all her work.”
“I commend the Minister of State on all the work she has done and effort she has put into this. I know it has been a very extensive process over a significant period. She set out the timeline for the two most recent mental health Acts we have had in this country. Obviously, the words in this Bill are only as good as the level of willingness among the members of the medical profession - I know there is huge willingness to embrace what is being set down here - and as good as the oversight regime relating to the Mental Health Commission. I join Deputy Clarke in calling for the review to happen in a shorter timeframe, because we all want this to work. Ultimately, the point is that any Act is only as good as how well it is resourced and the willingness to implement its provisions. I commend the Minister of State on all the work she has done.”
“I acknowledge there has been progress in this space but I want to flag a concern about the wording around any "relevant advocacy service". This is about how information is disseminated and the manner in which it is received. I hear what the Minister of State is saying about looking at ministerial regulation in this space but if at the heart of this legislation is ensuring greater rights for those accessing mental health services, we can look at other countries, particularly across the water in England, Scotland and Wales, and see that an independent, statutory advocacy service is critical. When we think about people receiving treatment or accessing services, the reference here is far too loose and will not ultimately be effective for patients.”
“I am conscious as well of all the arguments about those in their late teenage years who need a continuity of care right into adulthood. I get all those arguments but it is important that I put on the record that I retain that concern that the legislation, as drafted, remains too loose and is not as prescriptive as it should be in terms of, effectively, outlawing the care of any child in an adult facility in future.”
“The Minister of State spoke about facilities being at 70% capacity at the moment but this is legislation that we hope will be there for the long term and that none of us will be back to deal with this legislation again any time soon. The dramatic drop in the number of children in adult psychiatric wards is to be welcomed. We all know, however, what the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has said with regard to that practice. Even if it is one child, there remains a concern that the legislation, as drafted, remains too permissive. I do worry about a time when there may be a shortage of beds and the de facto approach, because no child facility is available, ends up with a decision being made that a child, albeit one nearly entering adulthood, will just have to be placed in an adult facility.”
“The Minister of State has inherited this Bill and somewhere in the order of 900 amendments have had to be dealt with as the legislation has gone through this House and the Seanad. The Minister of State’s own personal commitment to the Bill is very clear, and I very much welcome the improvements before us today. Regarding those issues raised in section 10, relating to how practicable it is to place a child in an age-appropriate setting, we know there is an issue concerning ageing out of child psychiatric services at 16. The Minister of State reflected very eloquently on the life-or-death decisions that do have to be taken. I do worry about the future.”
“In that context, why was there no reference to vaccines in the framework agreement reached with pharmaceutical companies in March? The latter is a three-year agreement governing the sale of drugs to this country. Is there no emphasis on future vaccines on the part of the Government?”
“I want to ask about the national vaccination programme. Yesterday, HIQA issued its health technology assessment on the respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, vaccine stating that it is clinically effective for small babies but that the cost is too much to continue the mass roll-out. Last week, we had officials from the HSE and the Department of Health tell us that they very much believe in the clinical effectiveness of the shingles vaccine but, again, HIQA has stated that it is too expensive. Last winter, HIQA also talked about the clinical effectiveness of the enhanced flu vaccine but, again, cost was an obstacle. Vaccines are crucial to public health and to reducing health inequality. The shingles vaccine costs over €500. In the context of cost being the issue, of course we need to drive a hard bargain with the pharmaceutical companies.”
“In terms of the priorities for the Government coming into the Presidency for the second six months of this year, public health and vaping as a public health issue need to be on that agenda because while the research is not conclusive at this point in time, there are significant concerns within the medical world about the potential physical and mental health impacts of vaping. That is why we favour strong regulations around vaping at this point in time and are hugely aware about who exactly is very much driving demand in this country. It is big tobacco and big business, and we need to co-ordinate at a European level to ensure that people are not lured back into smoking or into vaping unnecessarily.”
“In the UK in particular, there are certainly studies that show that if 17-year-old children do not already vape, the probability of them taking up smoking is 1.5% but for those who do vape the figure rises to a staggering 33%. A 17-year-old who vapes is as likely to start smoking as their peers in the 1970s. We have to look at the role of flavours in that. The Labour Party has a huge concern about the range of flavours that are available. Sinn Féin commented on differentiating between adults and children, but of course the reality is that if it is available for adults, children will get their hands on it. We will be supporting the sections on the flavours. Ultimately, my biggest issue in all of this relates to how we are co-ordinating at an EU level because Ireland, as a small country, is up against big tobacco and big business.”
“In terms of the discussion on flavours, I am quite struck that the WHO has made the point that flavours are fuelling a new wave of addiction. It is particularly telling in the arguments about the extent to which we need to restrict vape flavours. The range of flavours has hugely increased the attractiveness of vaping over the past number of years but the figures regarding smoking cessation speak for themselves. The decrease in tobacco cigarette use has slowed in recent years almost in perfect parallel with the rise in vaping. There is an argument that if we start banning flavours, we will see an increase in smoking, but we are already seeing that.”
“There are two key issues for the Labour Party. The first is regarding the availability of sale. As other colleagues have alluded to, vapes are freely available in many locations with very poor or no age verification, particularly in supermarkets. There is also an argument to be had about the role of vape shops. There is certainly an argument to be had about the number of vape shops but that is a separate zoning argument relating to desirability. The standards are probably higher is some vape shops relative to others. When we look at the discussions taking place in Australia where the sale of vapes is only through pharmacies now, we need to look at the whole discussion about where vapes can be purchased. We would favour much tighter legislation on the sale of vapes.”
“The Labour Party welcomes this Bill but part of me wonders how it has taken long. This Government has moved at a snail's pace on the regulation of vaping and nicotine inhaling products. When we look at what this Bill is trying to do, the Labour Party agrees with most sections. However, we have concerns with the pace at which the Government has moved and the comprehensiveness of this Bill. The reality is that the sale of nicotine pouches has rocketed from 6 million pouches in 2023 to 29 million in 2024, and what product will come online next year? I had correspondence from someone today about nicotine toothpicks that are coming on stream. There is a concern about to what extent we are hardwiring all future nicotine products into this legislation. I acknowledge there is a proposal relating to this, but we need to strengthen that.”
“There seems to be a legal lacuna in this regard. The HPRA does not regulate the administration of clinical practice, and HIQA is obviously not looking at this either. I am conscious there are people out there – many of whom are in my constituency - accessing these treatments for a little as €60, whereas other practices charge in excess of €250. A lot of people are being lured in by the prices. It is a potential question of life or death or of serious injury. We need to see the report. It was commissioned in 2025 and I have been submitting parliamentary questions about it. I ask for a bit of urgency in publishing that report.”
“My question relates to the regulation of the administration of dermal fillers in this country. Obviously, millions of euro is spent each year on beauty and cosmetic treatments. The vast majority are topical external treatments, but some are medically invasive. Unfortunately, there is something of a wild west out there in terms of who can administer these treatments. The incorrect administration, particularly of dermal fillers, can literally be the difference between life and death. Certainly, we have a lot of stories coming to us of people developing sepsis, permanent scarring and other impacts. What is the Government doing to regulate and protect people accessing these treatments?”
“If it is not the responsibility of the Department of Health - of course, the Minister sets the funding for the HSE - then whose is it? I do not accept that it is fully the responsibility of the Minister for disability because she does not control the HSE budget but we need to be very clear to those families out there who want an alternative to nursing homes for their children under the age of 65 who are adults.”
“When I look at the Minister's letter of determination to the HSE this year, or arising from the budget, I see the big emphasis on home care support and very little emphasis on the construction of new step-down beds. We know that the vast majority of those being constructed at the moment are replacement beds. I think there are many reasons there is a need for step-down beds. I know my colleague, Deputy Conor Sheehan, had figures with regard to those who were exiting into homelessness. One other issue I want to introduce to the conversation regards under-65s with dementia and other acquired brain injuries in hospitals who have nowhere to go. When I asked the Minister's Department last week about care of the under-65s in nursing homes, I was told that this was not the responsibility of the Department of Health.”
“It makes no sense to me that the sole responsibility for this lies with the hospital itself. What is the community element? In particular, what is the IHA doing to try to address these issues?”
“The Minister referred to beds and management. When I talk to a number of the hospitals that are experiencing some of the worst problems with transferring those patients, there is a huge absence of neurorehabilitation beds and dementia-specific beds. In particular, we know that in Cherry Orchard, two wards have been closed for almost the past two years, supposedly for fire remediation works. The Killarney Community Nursing Unit was ready a year and a half ago, but has yet to be opened. We know that at South Infirmary, there are beds closed that should be open. We know that at a facility that is due to open in Blarney, as I understand it, the governance is due to lie with the Mercy Hospital, which has no neuro responsibilities because they are with Cork University Hospital. The question concerns the decision-making and the management.”
“On 23 consecutive days between March and April, the number of delayed transfers of care exceeded 500 across our acute hospitals, and again over the last six days. This has a major impact, not only on the people who are caught in hospitals who should no longer be there, but also on admissions. We saw that 129 people were waiting over 24 hours on Sunday night for admission to our emergency departments, 16 of them over the age of 75. It also has an impact on hospital activity, particularly with regard to the staggering reliance on surge capacity at the moment. What is being done with regard to step-down facilities across the health system at this point in time? There is a strong focus on the trolley numbers but, to my mind, insufficient focus on the step-down facilities.”
“I move: That notwithstanding the Order of the Dáil of 1st May, 2025, Deputy Marie Sherlock be designated the member in charge of the Organisation of Working Time (Reproductive Health Related Leave) Bill 2021.”
“As a community, we do not have those all-weather soccer pitches now. When I rang Killarney and said that this was problem because the private club got funding for one purpose and is using it for another, I was told "That's the way it is." That needs to change. If clubs are being allocated money for specific purposes, it needs to be used for such purposes. If I had more time, I could talk about much more about sports capital funding. We need to overhaul the way in which that funding is used in order that clubs, particularly those in disadvantaged communities, get the benefits they need.”
“In the time I have left, I want to make the point about how badly designed the capital sports programme funding is and how it is very much designed for rural clubs as opposed to urban clubs, many of which cannot buy sites or access long-term leases. I know of one club, namely Drumcondra AFC, which has a very proud tradition and which is more than 100 years old. That club had to partner with a private sports club and a school in order to put forward a sports capital funding application in the most recent funding round. Those involved applied for €200,000 to convert defunct tennis courts into all-weather soccer pitches for their teams. They got approximately half of what they requested in their funding application. When that happened, the private sports club withdrew its co-operation.”
“I want to use my time to talk not about where players are now but where they came from. That is not in any way to take away from the conversations that are desperately needed, particularly in the context of women's football, and the large disparity that exists in terms of resourcing and respect for women. It will be ten years next year since the international women's team had to go on strike. With regard to grassroots football, across the city and beyond, football leagues in catch-up mode because vital weeks were lost in January and February as a result of weather conditions. There were teams that could not play because of the rain. This was a cruel reminder of how poorly served boys and girls in this city and beyond are because of a lack of playing facilities such as all-weather pitches.”
“It has been a long time since our international teams gave us such pride and pleasure. I want to pay tribute to our international women’s team in particular, which pulled off a great win last night. Good luck to the team next Saturday, and indeed to the men as well for the future. The visceral sense of excitement in the north inner city over recent weeks, particularly because of Troy Parrott, has been something to behold. I am very proud to stand here as a member of Bohemians FC. The turnaround we have seen with that club over the past number of years, which previously faced bankruptcy, which now has a high level of demand among its fans to attend matches week after week and whose the women’s team reached the FAI club final last year, has been nothing short of incredible.”
“There has to be recognition here, and I would be the first to talk about how costly it is for the State to buy turnkey homes and how costly can be in terms of Part 5 purchases, which we support. This will also be costly in terms of bringing stand-alone housing back into use. We need to see greater thinking with regard to how it will be financed and, perhaps, the use of some of these homes. Could we turn a two-bedroom or three-bedroom house into two apartments or some such innovation? The reality is that we cannot continue to have these houses remaining derelict. I look forward to the day when the scheme will be announced. My appeal is that we make sure it is properly resourced. We look forward to the detail on the contractor-led approach in terms of who will take it up and how exactly it will be taken up.”
“It is very welcome to hear this update. If I interpret correctly what the Minister of State said, we are moving from a buy and renew scheme to a renew and purchase or renew and sale scheme. It is slightly turning it on its head. That is not a bad thing, but the critical point is the amount of money that will be allocated for these projects. We know that 40,000 units of Dublin housing stock was built before the 1940s. Much of this is redbrick stock and some of it is in areas of architectural conservation. There are real issues with regard to how we bring these houses back into use, short of demolishing them. My concern ultimately is that while the scheme is potentially very welcome, the question is how much the Department and the Custom House are going to put behind it.”
“We can talk all we want about the war on dereliction and the move to the derelict levy, which will come in and be collected by the Revenue Commissioners next year and is welcome although much belated, but there needs to be a serious financial commitment and recognition by the Government that bringing these houses back into use costs money and a special scheme needs to be put in place. It is not acceptable for any community in the Minister of State's county, Mayo, or in my constituency of Dublin Central to be looking at these derelict houses any longer. We need a specific Government fix.”
“That is a problem for the whole community, not only because of illegal dumping but also for the adjacent houses and the community overall. Another example is 8 and 10 Ferguson Road, Drumcondra. Twenty years ago last year, the process of putting it on the derelict site register began. It finally went on the derelict site register in 2011 and was purchased under a compulsory purchase order in 2018. Those houses remain derelict to this day. When I talk to Dublin City Council, it tells me it has a huge problem in renovating these houses because it costs a lot of money. There is also a sense, however, that there is not Government support for local authorities in bringing these houses back into use.”
“It came off the register when a bit of work was done, went back on it and eventually was purchased under a compulsory purchase order in 2019. In all that time since then, those two houses have not been brought back into use. The final nail in the coffin happened last year when there were significant changes to the buy and renew scheme by this Government. There is no doubt there is an exceptional cost to bringing many of these properties back into use and making them homes. I think we all recognise that and there is huge pressure for volume and to build lots of houses at the moment. I totally understand that but it is not acceptable that there are streets in our communities where the blight of dereliction continues.”
“I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. My question is about central government support to local authorities for bringing vacant and derelict properties across our towns, cities and villages back into use, and specifically the buy and renew programme that has been in place for a period. In the constituency I represent, Dublin Central, there is an absolute scourge of dereliction. Across every community there are long-standing examples of derelict properties for which there has been no responsibility, accountability or action. There are a few examples of where the local authorities have acted, such as 19 and 21 Connaught Street in Phibsborough, but that tells the sorry tale of how our State deals with dereliction. It has been almost 20 years since it first went on the derelict site register.”
“I raise this because it is an enormous issue for home care providers, family support organisations, child support organisations and many section 39 organisations across this country. There was a pay deal last year but it was a pay deal - it had nothing to do with making provision for pensions. Will this Government ensure that services funded by the State are given proper provision for that auto-enrolment payment year on year?”
“My question relates to auto-enrolment. From January this year, all employers in the State have to make the payment on behalf of their employees. Yet, employers providing services on behalf of the State are not consistently funded to pay this vital payment. I say "consistently" because some Departments are making provision and some are not. The Department of justice has made specific provision, particularly through Cuan and the Probation Service, for auto-enrolment. When I asked every other Department and Government agency, they completely washed their hands of making provision for that auto-enrolment payment. The Department of Social Protection and Tusla said "No". The Department of Health said "No" but also said it would be gathering data this year.”
“In regard to domestic violence and the very real concern about the inconsistency across the country, across the 21 Garda divisions, only seven have domestic abuse co-ordination teams. There are 13 in Dublin and one in Dundalk, and none for the rest of the country. We have to change that.”
“Work has been done to try to confiscate scramblers but we know so much more has to be done, and there is a clear need by Garda leadership, particularly by the Commissioner, to ensure that message is sent to gardaí on the ground. They must intervene to a much greater extent. We also need to see the deployment of technology, like in Manchester where drones were deployed, to try to take scramblers off our streets. Ultimately, when we look at the resources gardaí have for dealing with those underage and with children, the number of juvenile liaison officers, JLOs, in our community does not inspire confidence. We have only four across DMR north central, and we cannot get away from the fact we have too few people dealing with the children on the ground.”
“While we are very grateful there is a significant chunk of the recruits coming out of Templemore being allocated to the Garda stations, in particular in the north inner city, the reality is we have fewer gardaí now than what we had pre-pandemic. We have four gardaí fewer compared to December 2019. During that time, we have had a significant increase in population, and that is the challenge the gardaí on our streets are currently facing. Unfortunately, the gardaí locally are accused of being soft on kids on scramblers and I want to reject that. The gardaí have a very delicate balancing act between not making martyrs of teenagers or children and maintaining the trust of the local community.”
“I want to start by thanking my colleague, Deputy Kelly, for bringing forward this motion, and to express my disappointment in the Government's proposal to amend it today because we very much need to acknowledge the incredible work An Garda Síochána is doing across our country. As a Dublin Central TD, the Dublin riots will be an image and experience that will forever condition my approach to how we need to police in Dublin. There was a very strong sense in the wake of that event that things would never be the same again. It exposed the city and An Garda Síochána to awful events. In the three years since then, there has been a major effort by gardaí to improve visibility and to engage with communities but they are effectively doing this by running to try to stand still.”
“Yes, cost is one of them, but I do not hear anything from the Government about pushing at European level about how drug prices are collectively negotiated. In some ways, the market model is coming back to bite us in Ireland. We need to make sure we collectively negotiate at the EU rather than doing it individually here.”
“Ultimately, to make sure we get back to that place, we have to get the investment into our equipment right and the investment into access to medicines. We know there is a gross inequality in Ireland between those who have the luxury of private health insurance - when I say luxury, you are paying a fortune for health insurance - or those reliant on the public system and the access to drugs. Across a whole range of cancers, people's potential for survival is greatly enhanced if they can go through the private system and access those drugs licensed through the EMA that have not been licensed for this country. In my book, if a drug has been licensed through the EMA, we need a greatly simplified system through the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics of how we process approvals for drugs in this country.”
“It is not good enough that a palliative care patient is taking up a vital bed for somebody who may live, if we call a spade a spade, but second, in terms of affording them dignity in their final weeks and months of life, that they would spend any time unnecessarily within a hospital system. This is not really about massive amounts of funding; this is about how we get our systems right. I am afraid that those systems are not right. There are stories across this country of people having to get into ambulances and present to emergency departments unnecessarily when there should be another way for them. I thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion. There is enormous work to be done to ensure Ireland can go back to being a global leader in cancer care.”
“There is a complete disconnect from when people finish their treatment to when they die or when they go into a hospice. By the time they are admitted into a hospice, they are only a few days or a week or two from passing away. What about those weeks in the middle? That is critical. Part of it relates to hospital organisation. The other part is the 2024 national palliative care strategy, and it is very welcome. It states great objectives, but I am not at all convinced, when I look at the HSE service plan or the letter of determination from the Minister, that there is any focus on that at all. In some ways, it should not take an awful lot to ensure that somebody with palliative care presenting to a hospital has a particular pathway to get their treatment and get them back out.”
“She had to wait three hours for an ambulance yesterday to be brought to her local major hospital in Dublin. She had to wait until 4 o'clock this morning for a bed. She is in palliative care. Because she has been discharged from chemotherapy and even though she is with the hospice, she is not at death's door to go into the hospice just yet. She is in limbo. There is nobody to look after her. She needs a nephrostomy, which is effectively a procedure to ensure that the urine leaking out of her back can be stopped. She had to go into that same hospital a number of weeks ago and waited four whole days, taking up a hospital bed, waiting for a one-hour procedure that does not require a general anaesthetic. I am telling this story this evening to highlight the lack of pathways, particularly for those in palliative care into the hospital system.”
“While we are all about early detection and treatment, the reality is people die in this country from cancer. Deputy Farrell raised it earlier, but I raise the lack of pathways when somebody has cancer in this country into the hospital system, whether they are currently in treatment or in palliative care. It is really frustrating to think that people with cancer have to present themselves to an emergency department and sit there for a number of hours or days before they get the treatment they need. St. Vincent's and other hospitals across this country have begun to provide quick access for cancer patients, chemotherapy patients in particular, to their clinics. I spent time yesterday with a 42-year-old woman who is in palliative care. She is a single mother to a young son.”
“In some of the fast-growing communities, particularly in Kildare, Lucan and east Meath, we are seeing one GP to 4,000 or 5,000 people. That is unacceptable. I sometimes think when we are having this conversation I am having it with people who can pick up the phone to their GP, talk to the secretary and get the appointment the following day or the day after. If that is the case for the vast majority here, that is wonderful, but that is not the reality for many people in the community. The Government opposed our Bill to ensure that the HSE takes responsibility for an even geographic distribution of GPs across the country. We have to get that right if we are making sure that people are presenting at the first port of call within the health system. The last issue I raise is palliative care.”
“I have stood in this Chamber a number of times, including with the Minister of State a number of weeks ago, when we discussed the huge geographical inequality that exists across this country with regard to accessing GPs. To be very frank about it, if people have to endure a long wait to access their GP, that is going to deter them from turning up, particularly if it is an issue relating to testicular cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer or some of the cancers that may be a bit more sensitive for people in terms of presenting. We have to change that. It is not good enough in the communities that I represent. There is one GP for 3,000 people in Cabra while it is one GP for 3,500 people in the north inner city.”
“We see what has happened with regard to radiation oncology, the delays in terms of access to treatment. Two in ten people are not starting radiation in time. In 2025, two in five women were not being seen on time for their appointment at an urgent breast clinic. Of course, in the Dublin area, 90% of the LINACs are beyond the ten-year lifespan. That points to an enormous Government failure to ensure investment in infrastructure. The other key aspect of what I want to touch on is outside of the hospital system. It is about the overall system of cancer care, which is the first port of call, namely our GP system. The EU Country Cancer Profile 2025 stated that Ireland faces shortages of various cancer care professionals, including GPs.”
“The rates of colorectal cancer in this country doubled for those under the age of 50 between 1994 and 2019. In an article published by the Irish Medical Journal last year, researchers from Cork University Hospital and Cancer Research Ireland predicted that by the 2030, young onset colorectal cancer will be the leading cause of death for adults between the ages of 20 and 49. One in ten people with colorectal cancer in Ireland at the moment are under the age of 50. We need to get serious about that very real challenge over the coming years. Not only do we need to look at the take-up of the existing screening programme, but we also need to lower the age as well. To me, screening is the easy, low-cost part of the cancer services. The other key part is with regard the in-hospital services.”
“However, we need to see the research and the understanding undertaken by the Department as to why women are not presenting for BreastCheck. To my mind, the conversation has to be about reducing the eligibility age for BreastCheck. In particular, it should be extended to women below the age of 50 to ensure we catch the incidents of cancer at a much earlier stage. We have to send out a message that if breast cancer is diagnosed at stage 1, there is a 99% chance of survival. That is why early detection is so vital. We need to get to the bottom of why the take-up is much lower than it should be. The other key concern for me is with regard to bowel screening. We know that the target of 50% is obviously much lower than we would like, but the take-up of bowel screening is far below what it should be.”
“Funding has to be ring-fenced for early diagnosis through screening, early treatment, innovation and access to technology and medication. Screening is the low-hanging fruit of cancer services. We know that 40% of women called to attend BreastCheck last year did not go. BreastCheck missed its target by 46,000 mammograms last year and that target has been missed three years in a row. I have not heard any answers or any research into why that is the case. We can speculate. There are many potential reasons, including difficulty getting the time of work, the fear of the mammogram procedure because it is painful, and the potential outcome. My colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, has a Bill coming this Thursday that will seek to provide for legislative provision for workplace leave for cancer screening.”