Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to make a correction for the purposes of clarity. I think I mentioned the Mater and Beaumont hospitals earlier under subhead I2. I should have mentioned them under subhead I5.

The Genio project and all of that is relatively new. It is the responsibility of the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. Of course I am aware of it. I think it holds a great deal of potential for the future. As it is relatively new, we need to see how it goes and how it is assessed in the future.

Some €8 million is being provided for therapy intervention teams in areas such as speech and language through the HSE. It comes through our Vote. It was announced in the budget. There might be a case in the medium term to move speech and language services to the Vote of the Department of Education and Skills or that of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. For now, such services are provided through the HSE under the Vote of the Department of Health.

The talks with the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association on a new drugs deal have not yet started. Those talks will begin in the new year. They will be led by the Department of Health in conjunction with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the National Procurement Service.

Deputy Mitchell O'Connor also asked about the decision to extend the scheme of GP care without fees. In the end, after a great deal of consideration and legal advice, we decided to extend it in the first instance to children under the age of six and people over the age of 70 because people in those groups are most likely to need to see a doctor. We thought it was particularly important to make this provision in respect of children under the age of six, because children are most likely to need to see a doctor at that age. Illnesses and issues like obesity can be picked up at a very early stage. At the time of making this decision, those whose children were most unlikely to have medical cards or doctor visit cards were working parents. I know that a small number of people in this category were very wealthy but many of them really had to think long and hard about the €50 required to see a doctor. If this is done on its own, it will all be for nothing. It was only ever a first step. This involved starting with the oldest and the youngest. We want the next steps to include all children because it is my strong view - I know this is not shared by everyone or by every party - that children should not be means tested on the basis of their parents' incomes. We do not do it for education. We do not charge people for primary or secondary education because their parents earn more than €50,000 or whatever. We do not do it for the early childhood education year. We do not means-test child benefit. The only thing we means-test in Ireland, when it comes to children, is health care. Ireland is the only country in western Europe that does this. It is a total anomaly. I do not think we should do it. Ireland is an oddity in Europe in so far as it does this. Health is an oddity in Ireland in so far as this is done in the health area. I think it is really unfair because working parents who get up early in the morning to go out to work lose out yet again as a result of the means testing of their kids. I do not think that is fair. This is just the first step in the process of redressing all of that. Notwithstanding the health care benefits of this approach, there is a social justice element to it too.