“While other countries in Europe are investing ever higher levels of effort and money into finding ways to control and cure the disease, Ireland is not taking cancer research seriously,” an Irish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) said.
The Irish MEP was speaking at the launch of a key report on cancer research funding in Europe and the USA which took place in the European Parliament in Brussels on September 18. The report was compiled by the independent European Cancer Research Managers Forum.
Doyle said: “For all the government’s talk of building a knowledge economy and their plans to reform the health service, they are falling behind the rest of Europe. We haven’t upped the game since the last survey in 2005.”
“When we compare ourselves to our neighbours, the figures are even more stark. Ireland has the second largest GDP per capita in the EU (just behind Luxembourg), yet out of 32 countries Ireland lies 14th in terms of direct annual funding for cancer research. For instance the UK spends 13.18 Euro per capita (a total of 783 million) on cancer research, while Ireland spends a mere 3.99 per capita (or 16 million.) In the UK, they are now beginning to feel the benefit of this research.
In five or six years time, when the results trickle down into the health system, Ireland will see the gap opening up in terms of cancer control, she said, and risks becoming a comparative cancer black spot, which was underlined by the latest announcement of a three-to-four year delay from the Minister of Health & Children, Mary Harney, on bringing much needed oncology services such as liner accelerators online. The minister announced the roll out of a national network of radiation oncology back in 2005 and now the projects will be delayed, Doyle complained.
“Return on investment in cancer research is immense, both in terms of public health and in benefits to the economy. More public money should be targeted on research into prevention. Tobacco control is the biggest single policy measure that can be undertaken to cut the occurrence of cancer,” she said.
Doyle welcomed the higher levels of research productivity in Europe. “The good news is that Europe is delivering better value for money than the USA - producing more research for less money. If we were to place a stronger emphasis on basic research, the cost-benefit ratio would improve further,” she said. 
Every day, 3185 Europeans die from cancer. This figure is set to rise by 50 percent by 2020 as the population ages. Cancer is also the second leading cause of death in the 1 -14 age bracket. “It’s time this government delivered both on cancer research and frontline treatment - and not just at election time,” she said.