Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the groups, especially the Meningitis Research Foundation. I apologise for the wait they have had. It is unfortunate. That is something we must address in the committee. We had a lengthy private session earlier.

I have personal experience as a member of a community that was directly affected by meningitis when a tragedy presented some years ago. I cannot remember exactly, but I have some notion in my head that Dr. O'Flanagan attended at the time. I could be wrong. I do not know if she did but it is in my memory that she might have. One young boy was lost and the other survived - two incidents simultaneously. Of course, the tragedy is that a surviving child's potential is seriously affected. There are many similar instances. It is welcome that in the fourth slide Ms Glennie presented the holistic in-the-round cost or real cost. The cost does not include only the treatment or whatever. Perhaps Ms Glennie has been a little conservative in terms of a lifetime's projection in real terms.

What is the likely time for completion of the work of the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, on Bexsero? I understand it is a matter of determining Bexsero's application and suitability and obtaining confidence to proceed with it here in Ireland. When will the NIAC report and when can we expect certainty in this regard? Would the HSE, the Department of Health and the IMB representatives like to comment as to their understanding of the potential of Bexsero to have an impact on meningitis B? Does it have the same potential impact as the MenC vaccine has already demonstrated? The graph on the eighth slide shows a significant decrease in incidence as a result of the introduction of the MenC vaccine. Can we expect a similar impact with the introduction of Bexsero? What data support this claim? If it is indeed the case that those with the professional competence to make that assessment so recommend, how promptly can we expect it to be introduced?