PBP’s Richard Boyd Barrett on throat cancer diagnosis: ‘I plan to be back as soon as possible’

He said he received the cancer diagnosis a few weeks ago and was now entering “into a fairly intense period of cancer treatment” in the next couple of months.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Today with Claire Byrne, Mr Boyd Barrett said: “Probably all in all, we could be talking three or four months, and it means I won’t be around.

“They’ve said I need to kind of step back and throw everything at recovering.

“If I just disappeared, people, constituents, obviously, who elected me will be wondering where I’m gone, so I want to do them the service of telling them, people who voted for People Before Profit, I think just deserve to know if I’m not around.

“I just want to stress I plan to be back as soon as possible.”

He said he noticed something was wrong at the end of October and beginning of November last year.

“It was actually in the middle of the election campaign. I was shaving and I noticed a swelling in my neck, and I left it for a few weeks, which I probably shouldn’t, but…