A bill which seeks to end discrimination against cancer survivors when accessing financial products is currently making its way through the Oireachtas.

Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin South-Central Catherine Ardagh, who introduced the bill, joined The Hard Shoulder to discuss.

“The bill will legally require financial institutions to disregard someone’s cancer diagnosis if they are in remission for more than five years,” she said.

“Really it means that if you’ve had a cancer diagnosis [and] you’re in remission, that you won’t be penalised for surviving.”

According to Deputy Ardagh, a person who has been in remission from cancer for five years has “more or less” the same mortality projections as a person who has never suffered the disease.

“My bill, we’d like it to apply to all financial products,” she said.

“It probably won’t apply to income protection; we are hoping it will apply to travel insurance.

“A lot of people I speak to are afraid to go on holidays in case their cancer comes back, it’s just something you’re living with and you don’t want to travel too far.

“But most importantly it will apply to mortgage protection, life insurance.”

Couple siting on a sale house office with a business talk for sale.

Deputy Ardagh said research from the Irish Cancer Society shows that, of the 200,000 people living with cancer in Ireland, nearly a quarter of those who attempted to apply for financial products such as a mortgage were “blanket refused”.

“I suppose this legislation moves into that gap,” she said.

“It will not help all, because obviously people have varying levels of periods they’ve been in remission, but it will help a huge portion of that 25%.”

Deputy Ardagh said she would hope to see the bill go before a Dáil committee before Christmas of this year.

Main image: Loving little daughter embrace sick mom. Image: Aleksandr Davydov / Alamy. 22 June 2020