Mr. Mark Byrne:

A lot of this activity falls on us now. We have quite limited resources, but some of our awareness campaigns and information sessions do have some success in respect of professionals, including health professionals, like GPs.

Some of it is donated by advertising by some of the commercial operators. It builds a bit of awareness. One of the cornerstones of any national plan concerns education and awareness. It is an issue that is not talked about. It is typically dismissed - "Grandad's sitting in the corner with the television blaring". This is often the attitude we see. It involves education and building awareness around the issues across society in order that people with hearing loss take action and take action earlier. Mr. Lennon spoke earlier about how the lack of knowledge around hearing loss among GPs is a bit worrying. There is a hesitancy about talking to people about spending €3,000 or €4,000 on a hearing aid. We spoke about the education system earlier in terms of a lack of awareness and knowledge and the journey parents have to go on. There is, therefore, a key piece relating to this issue, which is building awareness and breaking down stigma and barriers to allow people to take action. We often compare it to eyeglasses. Thirty or 40 years ago, there was a social stigma about wearing glasses when you were in school. As a society, we have been able to overcome that. We now have a similar urgent task to do in breaking down barriers and resistance to hearing aids, which people associate with getting old. We want to change that conversation but it will need will, a budget and some resources to launch that awareness and education campaign that is a cornerstone of any national care plan. It is across society. It includes health professionals and members of the public. It is across the board. We need to get that conversation started and bring it to a high level because we are talking about 300,000 people in the country who are affected by hearing loss. It is a large number, one in seven of us, nobody is talking about it and we need to start that national conversation.