Minister for Health Mary Harney will officially open the Regional Cancer Centre South at Cork University Hospital later today.
One of eight designated centres for cancer care in Ireland, the centre provides diagnostic, surgical, medical oncology and radiation oncology services for patients in the south region.
The breast care unit at the new centre will be the largest in the country and will see more than 10,000 patients annually, diagnosing approximately 520 patients with breast cancer.
Describing the opening of the centre as a "hugely significant achievement", Prof Tom Keane NCCP Interim Director acknowledged the progress made in recent years.
"I am very much aware of the hard work and the focus that was brought to bear on this project by the many people involved. From a national perspective, the transfer of breast cancer services into the Regional Cancer Centre at CUH - from Tralee last year and from the other Cork hospitals - means that we are now delivering all our symptomatic breast cancer services in our eight designated centres."
"From a position nationally where over two years ago there were 33 hospitals nationally delivering that care, in a clearly fragmented manner, we can all now rightly be very proud of the specialised breast cancer service available in this country."
"It is without doubt on a par with the best in the world and could not have been achieved without focus brought to bear on this change and transfer by the many medical, nursing, managerial, scientific, and administrative staff involved", he said.