Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Contributions from all Members were very well researched. The knowledge of what the National Vision Coalition has proposed and its research seems to have influenced the contributions. I thank Senator Marc MacSharry for not pressing the amendment, because it would have diluted what we were trying to achieve. I thank the Minister for not opposing the motion. We can take hope from his contribution. He has established an expert group to review the delivery of eye care within the HSE and I suggest the expert group could very easily do its analysis with the research carried out by the National Vision Coalition. As a country, we have committed to the Vision 2020 goal of elimination of preventable blindness. There is not much difference between what the coalition is proposing and what the Minister wants to achieve. I agree with him that we have had too many strategies in the country and too many strategies are sitting on shelves. I will give him a copy of what has been proposed by the National Vision Coalition and I suggest he read it on the plane before he gets to the Camino. He would then have been influenced ahead of time.