Richard Boyd Barrett's throat cancer diagnosis

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett has announced that he is stepping back from politics for a period as he receives treatment for throat cancer.

Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, Mr Boyd Barrett said: "I wanted to take the opportunity to say I recently got a cancer diagnosis and I found out a few weeks ago.

"And I have to enter into a fairly intense period of cancer treatment over the next ... well, it's going to certainly take a couple of months probably.

"All in all, we could be talking three or four months.

"I wanted to explain it because if I just disappeared, people, the constituents who elected me, would be wondering where I'm gone, so I wanted to do them the service of telling them.

"The people who voted for People Before Profit deserve to know if I'm not around and I just want to stress, I plan to be back as soon as possible."

Mr Boyd Barrett explained that he first noticed swelling in his neck while shaving during the General Election campaign last year.

"They suspected that it was cancer - they had to do an operation, a biopsy, I ended up having to get my tonsils taken out and they found that I had throat cancer that was prompted by the HPV virus."

He added that he was informed by the doctor that he likely picked up the virus years ago, and it can be activated because of age, stress, or a weakened immune system.

"According to the doctors, when it's virus-induced, it does improve your chances of recovery.

"The doctors have said that it is very curable - so I have a good chance.

"It's been caught relatively early because it was in my tonsils, it's gone to my lymph nodes but no further, so I have to get radio[therapy] and chemotherapy, and they say the chances of that working are about eight or nine out of ten, which is good," he said.

"But obviously you could be unlucky, and be the one in ten or the two in ten that it doesn't work for, so you have to throw everything at it."

Mr Boyd Barrett stressed that his office in Dún Laoghaire will remain open, adding that retired People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith has offered to assist in its operation.