Flatley fronts 'fastest-growing county in Ireland' as cancer survivors exceed 200,000

Having dealt with skin cancer almost two decades ago, Michael Flatley says he is honoured to be the cultural ambassador of a virtual city of 200,000 cancer survivors in Ireland. Picture: PA/Sidgwick & Jackson

If Irish cancer survivors had their own county, the population would be as big as that of Cork City. And today, on National Cancer Survivors Day, Breakthrough Cancer Research has created a symbolic 33rd county in Ireland which the body has named Co Saolfada, after the Irish for ‘long life’.

It will, they say, celebrate a population that has survived thanks to scientific innovation and cancer research. They say this could be the fastest-growing county in Ireland with greater investment in research and development for cancer.