Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is very positive. We have an ageing population and, unfortunately, an ageing population is a time bomb particularly in the area of eye care, be it diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, cataracts and so forth. Unless we get on top of it in the next few years, we will become overwhelmed. Some would say we are already overwhelmed when there are buses bringing people to the North to get cataracts done. It is a failure of our system when that happens. Our objective should be to ensure that this type of thing does not happen and that, in fact, people would be coming from the North to us for care. That is the level I would like to see in eye care. We have some of the best brains in the world in this country. They are sought after to speak in America, throughout Europe and so forth. We should use them to eliminate waiting lists because it can be done.