Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Commissioner and wish him every success in his role in the coming five years. I thank him for his presentation. I will focus on the issue of tobacco and the changes required throughout Europe. The tobacco products directive went through on 20 May 2014 and member states have two years to transpose the new rules. What additional changes to existing directives and what new directives does the Commissioner believe he can bring forward in the coming five years which will help to reduce the purchase and use of tobacco and tobacco products? We have a particular problem in Ireland, as the age profile of those starting to smoke here is the lowest in the European Union. We have a major challenge, which is why we have followed Australia in introducing standardised packaging. A number of submissions have been received from member states. Does the Commissioner see the changes which have occurred in Australia and what we are trying to do in Ireland being introduced throughout Europe in the coming five years? Does he believe individual member states will resist it? The use of tobacco products results in a huge cost to our health services and it must be given priority.

I had the privilege of being in the European Parliament from 2007 to 2009. I was involved in the internal market committee and worked on the cross-border health care directive, which I believe is extremely important. What initiatives need to be taken by the Commission and member states to encourage and increase the level of co-operation in providing health care? Ireland is a small country with a population of 4.6 million, and as such there is no way we can afford to have sub-specialisation in medical care. Therefore, there is a need for much more co-operation between member states. What new initiatives will the Commissioner introduce in the coming five years to encourage and increase co-operation between member states, particularly with regard to rare diseases, which the Chairman mentioned, and unusual medical conditions? Does the Commissioner have measures he could introduce which would help co-operation? My biggest criticism is that although the cross-border health care directive was passed in February 2011, Ireland has not yet transposed it. It is something we need to do.