Dr. Maria Meehan:

On behalf of the National Vision Coalition, I thank the Chairman and members of the joint committee members for giving us the opportunity to speak about the framework to adopt a strategic approach for vision health in Ireland. The National Vision Coalition is an alliance of ophthalmology health care professionals, those working in the sight loss community and, most importantly, service users who were brought together in 2012 by the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, NCBI, and Fighting Blindness. The coalition consists of the NCBI, Fighting Blindness, the Irish College of Ophthalmologists, the Association of Optometrists in Ireland, Mr. David Keegan, Mater Hospital, Diabetes Ireland, Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, ChildVision, Mr. Mark Cahill, Eye and Ear Hospital, Dr. Maureen Hillery, Health Service Executive, HSE, Ms Irene Reid, National Rehabilitation Hospital and Mr. Gerry Kerr, service user representative. The chief executive officer of Fighting Blindness, Ms Avril Daly, sends her apologies as she is attending another event but I now wish to introduce Mr. David Keegan, consultant ophthalmic surgeon, Mater Hospital, Dublin, and Mr. Des Kenny, chief executive officer of the NCBI Group, who will present our strategy in further detail, in particular on the cost to the State of vision impairment and on what kind of savings could be made from an early intervention.