Major conference on cancer gets underway in Dublin

GP’s from across the country are attending a major conference on cancer treatment today.

It comes as new figures show the number of new cases of the illness are set to double.

The National Cancer Registry said there will be 40,000 new diagnoses in Ireland by 2020.

Almost 28,000 new cases were diagnosed in 2007 - while cancer itself is responsible for 25% of all deaths in the country.

Dr Seamus O'Reilly is consultant oncologist at Cork University Hospital.

He said recent scandals related to cancer care in our hospitals was one of the main reasons why today's conference is being held.