Mr. Peter Foley:

In response to Deputy Neville on why home testing has not come to the fore until now, basically, when I embarked on putting together the system, I tried to emulate the national chlamydia screening programme that operates in the United Kingdom. There, they have targeted chlamydia as an area, with much success, and have tried to provide women under the age of 25 with home test kits. Using that as a benchmark, as well as their best practice models, I tried to create a more holistic approach that covered the various infections. However, approximately six months ago, I reached a point at which I realised their system, in which results were delivered via text message, was not suitable, in particular with regard to infections such as HIV. Obviously, there are massive privacy, confidentiality and even emotional issues and there is a responsibility on me or the company relaying these messages that they would not come in a such a format. It was at that point it became clear that it would be necessary to integrate existing systems and processes such as hospital infrastructure and whatnot to provide clear pathways to care in order that someone who tested positive would be put straight into the right environment and would not be left to deal with this alone. In addition, the fact that this is an online entity meant that while it started off operating solely within Ireland, there has also been uptake in the United Kingdom. For that reason, I was obliged to find similar pathways by way of the Terence Higgins Trust, which is the main HIV and AIDS charity in the United Kingdom, and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, which is the number one foundation hospital in London, to try to emulate the work we are doing here in St. James's Hospital. This pretty much is what slowed down the entire process and it is only now that we are really at a point to make noise about it and bring it to people's attention.

In response to Senator Colm Burke, the reference to Ireland and 100,000 people is a misprint. It should have stated the number of people in Ireland and the United Kingdom was 100,000.