Ms Sharon Cosgrove:

To add to what Ms Kelly stated and to return to Deputy Byrne's question on education and young people, it is something the Asthma Society has been involved over the years. Last year, we developed and piloted a transition year e-learning programme, which was an interactive module with videos. We know young people are attracted by branding and engage in risk-taking behaviour, and those with asthma often do not carry their inhalers or might try cigarettes. We have developed a particular approach which examines education regarding asthma but also, as Ms Kelly stated, includes a component about health and the impact of addiction and smoking on asthma and what to do if smoking or passive smoking triggers an asthma attack. We are very conscious of this. We also provide a service whereby asthma nurse specialists go to schools and meet groups of parents, children and teachers to educate them on asthma. Part of this includes speaking about the impact of smoking on asthma and what to do.

A question was asked as to whether the Asthma Society should use harder hitting campaigns. Over the past year we have tried to use harder hitting campaigns, but we must get the balance right between scaring people and educating or empowering them to quit smoking and control their asthma. We are conscious our messages need to be very clear and need to be harder hitting with regard to the prevalence of deaths and the link with smoking.

Deputy Doherty suggested the use of positive images and this is something we try to do. We are very conscious of it, particularly the use of asthma ambassadors such as young people who are involved in sport and have very healthy lifestyles. We try to ensure we have swimmers and kickboxers in our campaigns because positive images of healthy lifestyles for young people and throughout life are very important and we are building this into our awareness raising and campaign work.