Emma Hart

And for people who have to get to the hospital regularly, not only is it that they have to put petrol in their car, pay their tolls, maybe do some wear and tear repair on their car,

But then the last hurdle they're confronted with these car parking charges and it all adds up and it really is just one cost on top of another, particularly in the wider social cost of living context that we're all experiencing.

So what we know is that charges vary considerably across the country.

So, you know, some hospitals do offer free or reduced car parking.

for cancer patients.

Others will charge a nominal fee without any concession.

But for some people who have to get to hospitals, they could be facing charges of up to 15 euro a day.

And if you can imagine that you're a patient who has to attend hospital every single day for something like radiation therapy,

That really, really does add up.

So I think we're asking for the program for government commitment to be implemented.

So the government did say that they would explore further ways to reduce hospital car parking charges.

And we know that for cancer patients, these charges are quite significant.

And again, it's something that we hear time and again from patients.

So that's really what we would like to see.

And look, we understand that other people will experience this issue.

We understand that people might be worried about other people using the car parking for other reasons.

And again, I don't see that as an insurmountable problem.

I feel like that's something that could be ironed out in the detail.

I think it's really important that we look at the additional burdens that have been put on people who are facing a cancer diagnosis.

So at a time where they should be focusing on getting better, unfortunately, they are then having to figure out how they actually pay to get to their treatment.