Mr. Liam Woods:

It is important to distinguish between a specialist interest and rare conditions, because I understand that in the generic sense a doctor may have a specialist interest in something. However, rare diseases are, as their name implies, truly rare. Therefore, the connectivity across Europe and the research networks are important. That integration fund, as I understand it, is to support interaction across Europe for clinicians and institutions with common interests in rare conditions, of which there are more than 8,000. Work is ongoing to address the main rare conditions that are impacting in our environment, as was set out earlier. From our point of view, the networks are important. They are important for patients and families, as well as for clinicians to share evidence and experience and to hopefully develop new ways of treating. From our point of view, they are useful. To address the point the Chair is raising, they provide a forum whereby specialists with common interests can interact, if a specialist in Ireland may not have a sufficient case volume to have sufficient experience in isolation.