“Cancer can be cured with herbs". "Cancer is actually a yeast". "High fevers in young children are a good thing". This is some of the health “information” that was given to participants in the "A Journey of Healing" seminar that was held in Ireland last week and is discussed in an article in The Journal. The recommendations came from an Australian citizen who has actually been banned from providing any health services, including advice, by the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission.

As chair of the Oireachtas cross-party group on cancer, the issue of health misinformation, particularly cancer misinformation, is a real priority for the group members. With the huge proliferation of online sources, some of which are giving misleading, incorrect and deeply dangerous information to patients, will the Minister outline what steps the Government is taking to address this? Will she work with the cross-party group on cancer to bring forward legislative solutions to this deeply dangerous misinformation?

I thank the Deputy for highlighting this and for his own work on HPV and the HPV vaccine, which he raises consistently. In many ways, it speaks to the intersection of this – the importance of preventing cancer where possible and the importance of good-quality information and of trusting that information. This is a state that is based on science and respecting science. We have seen other states move away from that very fundamental principle but that will not happen in Ireland. We are committed to the truth about health and vaccinations and to science-based, evidence-based decision-making in healthcare. That is going to be the case whether it is bringing a new drug into Ireland, being very honest about its efficacy or otherwise, being very honest about the efficacy of different types of vaccination, and being transparent in how we make decisions. I am happy to work with every group on improving cancer care. We are evaluating the cancer strategy at the moment and will be developing a new one. It is really important that the Deputy’s cross-party group is involved in that too.