Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the speakers for their detailed presentations, with much work put into them and the organisations they work with.

I have come across a number of cases that deal with treatment abroad. One example is of a person being dealt with in Dublin and it was obvious that a diagnosis had not been provided. When the person went to the treatment abroad fund about getting a referral to Great Ormond Street, we had major difficulty in getting the treatment abroad office to come on board. Ms Lawlor's organisation deals with many people and I wondered if this is the norm. How is it being dealt with? This problem arose because of one line in the medical report in the Dublin hospital stating that there was a need for a second opinion. As that wording was used, the treatment abroad office decided that it would not fund second opinions. The problem in this case was that there was no diagnosis so it was not about getting a second opinion anyway, but about getting a first opinion on what the diagnosis should be. What is Ms Lawlor's experience with that?

I had an Adjournment matter on the national rare diseases office recently, trying to press the issue. Have we looked at the cost of setting up this office? The response I have received so far from the Department has not been what I would like it to be. Do we even have an idea of the cost of setting up and running this office for a period of 12 months? Do the witnesses have any information from the Department as to when this office is likely to be set up? If we have a costing for it for 12 months at least, perhaps we can examine whether money can be taken from another budget that will not be used over the next 12 months. I know there is very little in the health care area which is not going to be used up, but I imagine that it is not a phenomenal amount of money to run this office. I am a bit concerned about the delay in dealing with this issue and I wonder what Ms Lawlor's view is on that.