Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise a few points. We all know someone impacted by this and someone who has had a heart attack or a stroke. We all know someone who has died from a heart attack or from coronary disease, and we all know someone who is living with it at the moment. The statistics are that this involves 9,000 deaths every year, which is 30% of the mortality rate. What I cannot get my head around is that we have those figures - I have said that we all know someone who has been affected and a committee member has been talking about his experience - yet we do not have a plan in place. It just does not add up.

A review was started six years ago and it still has not been published. I am asking the witnesses but they are not the ones who should be answering this question, and it should be the Minister or the Department. Again, we give a commitment, as a committee, that we will certainly follow up on this.

Do the witnesses have any insights as to why we are at this stage? Why is it the poor man's or poor woman's disease? Why are people being left behind in this situation?