Mr. Mark O'Donnell:

Can I make a point about the Deputy's previous question about the cost-benefit analysis? It is important we do not lose sight of the fact that we have a particular set of challenges that face us today and a particular burden of disease. That will increase exponentially into the future. Sometimes we look at the cost-benefit analysis in today's terms, that is, what will be the expenditure across the next 12 months or across the next year in terms of the economic cost. This is back to the question about why there is not a national cardiovascular health strategy. I am not sure if there is a clear appreciation of the scale of the problem that is coming down the line. What we have today is a massive challenge that we are not meeting. What will happen in the future is that all of the metrics and markers for risk factors are going in the wrong direction. The problem is increasing all of the time. We are not keeping pace with the problem we have at the moment. That cost-benefit analysis piece is extremely important but it has to be forward-looking as well and a key part of the strategy.