Mr. George Kennedy:

We met Joe Morrissey in his office in Mallow and we are working closely with him. He has received all our reports, the progress to date and so on. The family support service is being provided. A list of the duties is provided in the submission. I do not want to go through them again but we are working with upwards of 150 families in that area at the moment. They will lose that service if we cannot continue to provide it.

Deputy Ó Caoláin asked a question about folic acid. Many studies outside the country prove that folic acid plays a good part in "prevention" but they are not conclusive. We cannot say there is a 100% cure if a woman takes the required dosage of folic acid prior to pregnancy. The Deputy is right that most pregnancies in the country are unplanned. Our recommendation is somebody who reaches child bearing age should immediately take the required dosage of folic acid. As an organisation, we would very much like to organise an educational programme but, unfortunately, funding is not there to do it.