The National Cancer Registry of Ireland (NCRI) has a statutory obligation to collate information in relation to national cancer incidence across all tumour types. This information will typically only be made available 2 to 3 years after the year of incidence, in keeping with international standards.
There has been a drop in number of cases of cancers registered in 2020, documented in NCRI annual reports for 2021, 2022, 2023, and in a supplementary report published in June 2023. The NCRI continues to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on cancer in Ireland.
Due to population increases and ageing, the number of cases of cancer is expected to increase each year, usually by about 2-3%. It is estimated that the total number of invasive cancers (excluding NMSC) in 2021 was 4% below what would have been expected, based on the trends that were happening prior to the pandemic up to 2019.
Data on stage of cancer takes longer to compile than numbers of new diagnoses. For most cancers the most recent stage data that is available is for cases diagnosed in 2017/2018. However, the NCRI is currently conducting a specific research project on the impact of COVID-19 on four cancers (breast, colorectal, lung and melanoma) which is looking at stage at diagnosis up to 2020. The NCRI will publish it's findings from this project in due course.
