Budget 2025 Submission Calling for Adequate Cancer Funding

The Irish Cancer Society has launched its Budget 2025 Submission today, urging the government to address the underfunding of the National Cancer Strategy.

This year’s pre-budget submission was supported by the Irish Society of Medical Oncologists (ISMO) president and Director of the UCD Cancer Trials Cluster, Professor Michaela Higgins. Professor Higgins notes:

“Medical oncologists across Ireland are witnessing the human cost of this chronic under-funding. Our healthcare staff make every effort to provide quality care to patients with cancer but are hampered by the lack of sufficient people, capacity and resources in the system. Unfortunately, we feel it is not possible to provide optimal care or patient outcomes in these conditions”

Underfunding has resulted in a cumulative investment loss of nearly €180 million since 2017. This has led to inadequate cancer screening, unmet target waiting times, delayed surgeries, insufficient infrastructure, under-capacity radiotherapy services, and slower access to new medicines compared to other European countries.

It has also resulting in low participation in clinical trials, meaning that Irish cancer patients are missing out on new and innovative treatments.

The Budget 2025 Submission calls on the goverment to:

• Fund protected time for clinicians and adequate research and support staff.
• Improve data protection and other regulatory processes to enhance participation in cancer research and trials.
• Ring-fence regular, flexible, and sustained investment in clinical trials research and infrastructure.
• Ensure that HSE income from commercially funded studies can be directly invested into clinical trial operations at the discretion of local clinical trials governance structures, including funding clinical trials staff.

To read the full submission, (opens in a new window)please click here.