Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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It has certainly been an interesting engagement. We should flag with the HSE the committee’s interest in seeing a national strategy for the elimination of preventable blindness. The funding should be put in place and a working group should be established to put such a strategy in place. In addition, we should get a dedicated timeframe as to when we can see this happen. HSE officials will come in with regard to Sláintecare in a couple of weeks’ time. Perhaps we could flag with them that we want some feedback and engagement on this issue.

On the eye clinic liaison officer posts - ECLOs, as they are called – I have seen that evolve over the past number of years. It started as a pilot and then evolved into, I think, 4.7 ECLOs now throughout the country. I believe the latest one has been appointed in Waterford. What is the difference between hospital groups that do and do not have an ECLO in place and the level of people who suffer sight loss ending up in a situation where they can live independent lives? How important is it to see an ECLO in all hospital groups? I ask the witnesses to talk to us about that. I was in London recently and I visited the Royal National Institute of Blind People, RNIB. Their ECLO programme is so advanced that there are even ECLOs within community and primary healthcare settings. I would like to hear feedback on how successful it has been with regard to value for money and on the gaps where there is not one in place.