TDs and Senators have gathered for the first meeting of the Oireachtas Cross-Party Group on Cancer of the current Dáil term. At the meeting, members of the Cross-Party Group selected Roderic O’Gorman, TD for Dublin West and Leader of the Green Party, as Chair. Members also discussed a work programme for the months ahead focusing on key issues relating to the delivery of cancer care across Ireland, such as the financial cost of cancer for patients and equitable access to medicines.
The Cross Party Group also discussed upcoming ‘Right to be Forgotten’ legislation, which will end the financial discrimination of cancer survivors accessing financial products. TDs and Senators were briefed by leading expert Prof. Mark Lawler and Lydia Whelan, a breast cancer survivor who talked about the emotional and financial impact of going sale agreed on her forever home two weeks before getting a cancer diagnosis.
Welcoming the first meeting of the Oireachtas Cross-Party Group, Roderic O’Gorman TD, said: “I am honoured to get the Group up and running in the current Dáil term and to have been selected to Chair. To have such a breadth of Oireachtas members join the Group and participate constructively in today’s discussion, underlines the importance of cancer care to legislators. With 1 in 2 of us expected to be diagnosed with cancer in our lifetimes, there isn’t a family, community or workplace – including the Oireachtas – which hasn’t been impacted by a cancer diagnosis. I look forward to working together on a cross-party basis to make sure we give cancer care the political priority it deserves.”
Steve Dempsey, Director of Advocacy & Communications at the Irish Cancer Society, said: “We are delighted to see the engagement from across the political spectrum to work together to improve our health service for those affected by cancer. In the last Dáil term, we established the Cross-Party Group on Cancer, and it became a vital vehicle to keep TDs and Senators informed of issues in cancer care and to highlight political and legislative gaps effecting cancer patients. We look forward to the group hitting the ground running over the months ahead.”
Above Photo : (L-R) Pádraig O’Sullivan TD; Duncan Smith TD; David Cullinane TD; Catherine Ardagh TD; Roderic O’Gorman TD (Chair); Steve Dempsey, Irish Cancer Society; Pádraig Rice TD.
