Mr. Mark Byrne:

It is hard to say if we are that confident. The plan has been delayed a number of times and the procurement piece has been especially challenging. There is a bit of momentum at the moment but one of the challenges for Chime is competing priorities and the need for the political will to make something happen. Progress is slower than we would like. We get that there are a lot of priorities in health but if the plan continues to be put at the bottom of the list of priorities, we will continue to have high waiting lists and a high level of unaddressed hearing loss.

We have momentum at the moment. One of the reasons for attending today is to ensure there is awareness of the issue and cross-party political will and support for a plan. As we have outlined, this would be financially beneficial for the State and improve quality of life. There has to be an urgency behind it to get people moving in the right direction. There are practical issues involved. For example, the grant comes from the Department of Social Protection, yet leadership comes from the Department of Health. Political will is required to bring about the momentum that we feel is needed. It is not complicated.