Equality of access to cancer treatment services for people in all parts of Ireland had to be guaranteed by the Government and until this was done the announcement of new radio therapy services had to be welcomed with reservation.

This was stated by Independent MEP Marian Harkin when she gave a qualified welcome for the plans announced by the Tanaiste & Minister for Health, Ms. Mary Harney.

“I believe that if anyone can deliver radio therapy services on an effective and equitable basis it is the present Minister for Health but when she uses words like ‘hope’ in relation to creating a service in Belfast for the people of the North-West it indicates the need for firm commitment to start up dates”, she said.

The level of politics involved in the health sector when compounded by having to deal with an administration in another jurisdiction would require an exceptional focus on delivering a radio therapy service for people in the North West, she said.  Projections for start up dates for the new services in all parts of the country were already too far into the future and if they depended on creating partnerships with the private sector the potential for delays was most worrying, she said.

For people in the North West a radio therapy service in Belfast was a better prospect than the present situation but if the Government was to be fair to the people of the area, radio therapy had to be provided in the North West, the Independent MEP said.  “What is needed right now is to eliminate the Tanaiste’s ‘hope’ that a service will be provided in Belfast and replace this with definition on a jointly funded service to be provided in the North West in the future and certainty in the meantime on availability of services in Belfast”, she said.

If the Government was serious about provided effective radio therapy services for the North West they should be prepared to immediately engage in serious discussions with the Northern Ireland health authorities and be prepared, if necessary, to provide joint funding for a radio therapy service just as it had done in jointly funding a gas pipeline in the North, Marian Harkin said.