Ms Michele Tait:

The Deputy mentioned the period between 2004 and 2018 but the big advances in treatment have only happened in the last three years, in Ireland and internationally. The programme was established on the basis that we would begin with the patients who were most sick and in most critical need, as well as those infected through State-contaminated products. I cannot comment on the trajectory as regards cervical treatment but the cost of the hepatitis drugs in the first three years was phenomenal and no rebate arrangements were in place. The programme has now reduced the costs, as other countries have done.

It is difficult to capture the number of patients who have hepatitis C and where they are in the system, but our data are getting much better and there are far more opportunities for people who are infected to be tested and treated. We will have another ten years of treating patients before we get to the eradication of the disease in the Irish setting but we have done what we have set out to do so far. I agree that eradication will not come about if we just set a target for the number of patients to treat every year.

I am pleased that we are moving into settings other than the hospital setting and we will improve screening, which will give us the opportunity to diagnose more of our population. We will also be able to know who they are so that we can link them to care.