Irish Cancer Society does u-turn on hardship grants

The Irish Cancer Society has partly reversed its decision to stop its hardship grants for cancer patients.

It has now announced it will maintain the grants for the families of children suffering from the condition - a move which it has said will cost it around €200,000 a year.

Yesterday the charity said it would have to stop paying the thousand-euro grants to patients because it no longer had the resources to do so.

In a statement this morning the charity apologised for the upset caused by yesterday's decision, and said it would now start work to find the savings that would maintain the grants for the families of child patients.

“We deeply regret and apologise for the upset which our decision has caused and we hope that this announcement that we are restoring financial support for the more than 200 children and families affected by cancer every year will ease that hurt.”