Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to thank everyone for attending the committee and for their presentations. It was an interesting, worthwhile, challenging part of our process of committee meetings. A clear message has emerged from this meeting - not least the fact that we must have a clear strategy and a joined-up approach with the Department of Health and the HSE. In addition, we must tackle the stigma that it is a disease of the deprived and poor. We need to change the mindset that respiratory diseases, including lung disease, arise because of smoking. There is an awful lot more involved than that, so we need to change that message.