Catherine Sherry was 42 years old when she died of lymphoma cancer. She lived with her husband and young children just across the Border, in Newry. The special treatment she needed was not available in the North of Ireland but was available just one hour away in Dublin. Her heartbroken husband, Fergal, said she was forced to travel to London for that treatment and that travel significantly weakened her just when she needed her strength for that treatment. It also meant she could not be with her three sons during the final weeks of her life.

Clinicians have said that there is very little cross-Border cancer activity happening, aside from Altnagelvin hospital in Derry. Altnagelvin just treats 300 people annually. One in five cancer patients from Donegal uses Altnagelvin, the rest must go to Galway or Dublin. During the week, I raised the fact that 12% of cancer patients in the north west are not getting their treatment on time. Why is it that 27 years after the Good Friday Agreement there is still no overarching framework for cross-Border cancer care?

I thank the Deputy for raising that issue and my sincere sympathy goes to the family of Catherine. The Deputy is quite right to highlight this issue. The Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, has had a number of meetings with her colleague and counterpart in Northern Ireland, the Minister of Health, Mike Nesbitt. I know there is a real willingness and desire on the part of both Ministers and both health services to see how we can do more together on cross-Border health. The Deputy is right that Altnagelvin was a big and important development and so was the all-island congenital heart disease network. We do not want to just keep looking back and saying is it not great we did that. It is about what is next. I suggest if the Deputy is willing to give those details to the Minister for Health, she will come back to him directly.