Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It would be remiss of me not to commend Deputy James Reilly, who met members of the coalition when he was Minister for Health. He said that he believed in the concept of strategies. Senator John Crown has already commented on what has been achieved by a very focused strategy on cancer. We are dealing with something that will end up costing the country an awful lot of money in the future if we do not have a focused strategy.

Politicians and political leaders must deal with the here and now but, as we are maturing as a society and coming out of the recession, we must take a more long-term view. It can be achieved because we have achieved consensus across the political divide today. Even if the present Government is not in office after the general election, alternative Governments have signed up to this. That mature approach to dealing with the health of our nation is new to politics, but it is also good for politics. Ultimately, the people who elect us expect us to achieve that.

Yesterday I gave an interview on national media, and this morning I received an e-mail from a lady in Cork. She has a five-year-old boy who has just finished junior infants, and during the year the community nurse called to the school to carry out a routine eye test. The nurse informed the boy's mother that his sight was particularly poor in one eye. That child must wait 12 to 18 months before receiving a proper eye examination, which is unacceptable. Such delays must be eliminated. It is significant announcement by the Minister that an expert group has been set up to review the delivery of eye care within the HSE. There is no reason the vision strategy proposed by the National Vision Coalition cannot inform the process.

Expertise is available to the Minister through the vision coalition. These are people who have given up their time on a voluntary basis to ensure we progress the objective of eliminating preventable blindness. During the coming weeks, if the Minister needs to consult or extract information from stakeholders in the National Vision Coalition, they will be more than happy to accommodate the Minister. This has been a useful debate and I thank Members for carrying out research and making contributions.

I thank the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar. With no disrespect to his officials, there was a move to put this into the realm of disability. Eyesight, eye loss and blindness is a disability, but first it is a health issue that leads to a disability. It is appropriate that the Minister, as the senior Minister responsible for health, deal with this. I am glad the motion has received unanimous support, and it is reflective of what we can achieve in the Seanad. When it is the right thing to do, this Chamber is more likely than the other House, with the greatest of respect to the other House, to come together and row in behind it. It has been a good day for the Seanad and a good day for those who are visually impaired and blind. The Upper House has dedicated itself and passed a motion unanimously supporting the establishment of a vision strategy.