Ms Deirdre Seery:

I had a dream regarding mobile testing, but it did not work out. In terms of our sexual health education, we travel all over Cork. We used to travel all over Cork and Kerry but we did not have the resources for Kerry. We have a car which travels to schools and it is very effective. We are not precious. I constantly hear people say they cannot take what we do in Cork into account because it does not happen all over the country. I wonder why they cannot learn what we do in Cork. We will make our programmes available all over the country. We can train people. We are making our Sexual Times available all over the country because people think it is a good resource. We have to share information.

In regard to the education of young people, one does not have to be a teacher. Some of our staff have backgrounds in nursing or teaching and some do not. The most important things are the ability to connect with young people and being comfortable talking about sex. Education does not just take place in school; it also takes place in the home and the broader community and on the Internet. Many young people now think that nobody has pubic hair - I apologise for mentioning pubic hair in the Oireachtas but it is important that we know this - because they are getting their education from porn.

We have to be able to talk to people. It does not matter how much one knows about sex. The actual information one gets about sex is not rocket science. The ability to talk is what is important. Transition year is wonderful for giving people confidence and competence in terms of understanding where they are coming from. The biggest bonuses for sexual health education is developing good self-esteem and confidence. One will not let anybody lead one astray if one values oneself. Young people need good general health education and specific sexual health education so that nobody can say if one has sex standing up, one is all right, which is one of the myths out there. They are important in enabling people to stand up for themselves and determine what information is correct or incorrect.

We are a small country. We all know each other. We work well together. We have made major changes over the years. I have every confidence that we will continue to do so. In answer to the question about the heterosexual population, it is the most difficult one in some ways. We do not know who they are. We have people who get a late diagnosis, some of whom are from different countries and are terrified of taking a test because they are afraid they will be sent back to their own country. It is a very diverse population and that is why we need very good health intelligence to break down the populations and be constantly alert about where we can go to make sure people get information about testing. Rapid HIV testing uses home testing in an organisation so that it is coupled with counselling. We are operating from the same page. I have every hope that if we were to come before the committee in five years time, a lot of what we have said would be history and we would have made even further progress in the field of sexual health.