Debate contribution: CAR T-cell Therapy

Debate contribution by Mr Justin McNulty on 22 September 2025.

MLA

Mr Justin McNulty

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

22 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

CAR T-cell Therapy

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5124506

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Twenty-three years ago today, Armagh won the All-Ireland for the first time. I say that because, on 18 May, I stood in St Killian's, Whitecross, after the funeral celebration for Catherine Sherry, who was buried in St Teresa's, Tullyherron, and her mummy told me that the last message that Catherine sent to her on the day before she died — 11 May, the day of the Ulster final — was "Come on, Armagh". In December 2024, Paul Duggan of the Armagh county board arranged for me to take the Sam Maguire Cup to Catherine's home, as Armagh were reigning All-Ireland champions again. It was a powerfully poignant and sad time but a very cheerful time as well. It gave the family hope and a huge sense of joy that Sam was in their home and with their family. It is therefore with a sense of sadness and duty that I speak to the motion. I do so to remember and honour the life of Catherine Sherry, a young mother from south Armagh who tragically passed away whilst receiving CAR T-cell therapy for lymphoma in King's College Hospital, London. Catherine's story is heartbreaking. At her sickest and most vulnerable, Catherine was forced to travel hundreds of miles from her home, separated from her loved ones, to access the treatment that she needed. Her family endured the anguish of distance when what they needed most was to be together. While she was in hospital in London, Catherine rang home every day and sang 'You Are My Sunshine' to her sons. Catherine was small in stature, but, by God, she was big in fight. I pay tribute to her extraordinary strength and bravery. Her family, even in their grief, have campaigned tirelessly. Her aunts Anne and Marie are with us today in the Public Gallery. Her husband, Fergal, and sons Manus, Tomás and Donal are watching from home. We owe it to them and to every patient in the North who is living with blood cancer to act. Since the NHS commissioned CAR T-cell therapy in 2019, 70 patients from the North have had to travel to England or Scotland. That is the worst-case scenario: gravely ill people being uprooted, separated from their families and support structures and burdened with needless travel while our health service pays over the odds for care that could be delivered here. Upstairs at our meeting earlier, one of the family members told me that the loneliness is devastating. There is a better way. Access to CAR T-cell therapy services in Dublin would be a huge step forward, but the ideal and most sustainable outcome is the delivery of CAR T-cell therapy here in Belfast. Let us be clear: senior clinicians in Belfast City Hospital have said that they want to deliver CAR T-cell therapy here and are fit to do so. The facilities and expertise are already there, they have enough patients to fund the service and Belfast City Hospital already holds international accreditation for stem cell transplants. Only minimal work is required for CAR T-cell therapy accreditation. Clinicians say that CAR T-cell therapy is a vital new frontier of modern medicine and a field of medicine that is rapidly evolving, and they say that the health service here is paying way over the odds for patients to access the service. The only missing ingredients are funding and political will. I must call out the insensitivity from the Department in its answer to a question from me, speaking of it being "nugatory". We all had to look that word up, but, when we found out its meaning, we thought that it was very insensitive towards the families. The Department of Health has pointed to capacity issues in Dublin as a reason not to pursue cross-border cooperation. That does not hold up. New CAR T-cell therapy services will open in Galway this year. The Department has also said that Belfast will not deliver CAR T-cell therapy until 2030 or 2031. That is five or six years away. For families living with blood cancer, that is a lifetime. They do not have the luxury of waiting. Almost every part of the blood cancer journey is already administered here in the North. The only missing piece is the CAR T-cell therapy itself. It is a small but crucial part of the treatment, yet its absence forces patients to leave this island at an enormous emotional, physical and financial cost. It makes no sense. We already have the clinicians, the expertise, the demand, the hospital and the accreditations. The Department is paying way more than it should be to send people away when it would cost less to deliver care at home. It is not a question of capacity; it is a question of bureaucracy and priorities. Who are the commissioners of services in the North?

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Phríomh-Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

On a point of order, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. Who nicked my phone?

Who nicked my phone? Somebody has stolen my phone.

Yeah. It's been some joker. Some Shinner joker. Good one, lads.

846 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:16 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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