About us
We won't stop until fewer people receive a cancer diagnosis, until everyone who does survives it and until everyone who needs it receives world class care and support.
Our values
Everyone’s cancer journey is individual and we reflect that in everything we do. From the time you are diagnosed, right through to treatment and beyond, we provide personal support that is right for you
Whoever you are and wherever you come from, we are here for you. We are working hard to ensure that everyone in Ireland has the same access to care and support during their cancer journey.
We are constantly demanding more of ourselves and others on your behalf. We always believe there is room for improvement and we strive for excellence in all we do. Our services and decisions are informed by best quality knowledge, data and expertise.
Collaborating and working in partnership with world-class medical professionals, researchers, organisations and supporters helps us to deliver more. We want to be inspired and to improve by challenging ourselves and by benchmarking ourselves against world-class results. We build alliances and work with local communities and global partners to deliver best results.
We work to the highest standards of governance and financial management. This means we are honest, ethical and efficient in our work. We hold ourselves accountable for the delivery of our goals and objectives
We care about our communities and environment. We strive to be a sustainable organisation and minimise our impact on the world around us.
Our leadership
Our team is at the heart of the we do at the Irish Cancer Society.
Operating under Chief Executive Officer, Averil Power, and supported by our Executive Leadership Team, we are committed to devoted to researching the origin and causes, relief, cure, treatment, prevention, lessening and alleviation of cancer, or any disease of an allied or similar nature.
The Irish Cancer Society has a voluntary Board of Directors which meets at least six times a year. The Directors are responsible for the governance of the organisation.
Read more about the people on our board and our senior leadership team here.
What we do
We are a community determined to help anyone affected by cancer in Ireland
Our team of cancer nurses provide free cancer information and support to anyone affected by cancer. They do so in our 13 Daffodil Centres in hospitals nationwide and on our Freephone Support Line.
In 2024 10,700 Freephone Support Line calls and emails were answered - an increase of 8% on the previous year.
To achieve this we lead advocacy campaigns, innovate services, fund research, and work in partnerships that will eliminate the survival gap between Ireland and other European countries. We are working to give people the best chance of surviving cancer.
Our nurse-led community outreach initiative - the Your Health Matters Roadshow - provides free health checks in shopping centres in areas around the country. The Roadshow aims to reduce people’s risk of cancer and improve early detection rates. We also partner with organisations such as the Capuchin Day Centre to deliver this care and information to their clients.
In 2024 1,950 health checks were conducted at our early detection roadshows nationwide.
The Irish Cancer Society currently funds over 120 cancer researchers across Ireland working to development new and better treatments for many different types of cancer.
Our research has led to hundreds of discoveries. Each of these new findings have been published in international peer reviewed journals, making this knowledge available to researchers worldwide.
Key to our research programmes is that patients are at the heart of it. We are leaders in Patient and Public Involvement in research (PPI) and strive to ensure that the patient voice is at the heart of everything we fund.
Through our cancer advocacy campaigning, we listen to patients and lobby the Government to make those patients’ lives better.
We work to influence policy, legislation and national budgets so that patients are at the heart of cancer services and cancer care. We push Government to take action to improve the quality of life for patients and to make decisions that will help to reduce the number of people getting cancer and improve survival rates.
Each year the Irish Cancer Society is able to provide free information, care and support to people across Ireland who are affected by cancer. These activities come at a cost of more than €20 million each year.
Because the Society typically receives only 5% of its funding from the Government, we rely on donations, fundraising campaigns and our network of charity shops to raise the funds needed to carry out our mission.
Our impact
Nothing we do would be possible without the support of the Irish public.
With only around 5% of our income typically coming from Government each year everything we deliver is because of the generosity of our supporters.
Together we are there for people affected by cancer across Ireland through our free information, advice and support services.
In 2024 our supporters generously funded:
• More than 26,000 free lifts to bring cancer patients to and from their treatment
nationwide through the Irish Cancer Society Transport Service.
• More than 16,000 free counselling sessions for those affected by cancer.
•More than 6,000 nights of Night Nursing care, to allow cancer patients to die at home, surrounded by their loved ones.
• More than 28,000 supportive and comforting conversations with people
affected by cancer through the Irish Cancer Society Support Line and Daffodil Centres nationwide.
• 176 families to avail of the Irish Cancer Society Children’s Fund to help
with the cost of a childhood cancer diagnosis.
Work with us
Careers at the Irish Cancer Society
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Contact us
If you have any questions, queries or feedback please reach out to us today.
