Mr. Brendan Lennon:

The report was carried out by the HSE. It was quite focused on HSE services and provision at the time. One of the key pieces of information in the review was that 8% of adults in the Irish population have significant hearing loss and should receive audiological support and intervention. That is where the figure of 300,000 people with hearing loss came from. The figure is slightly higher now with censuses showing increases in the population. The recommendations of the report were very much focused on the provision of services by the HSE. Some of the recommendations have been implemented. Obviously the HSE only provides services to people who have medical cards and children under the age of 18 who have hearing loss.

Traditionally, parliamentary questions have focused on the HSE's audiology waiting list and a many of the replies are confined to issues around the HSE's provision of audiology services, which are problematic in the main. The problem is the persistent waiting list, which we mentioned. What is not so well known is that 70% of audiology services are provided by the private sector which is subject to very little regulation or oversight. In fact, anybody can set up an audiology service and prescribe hearing aids. There is nothing in place to say a person needs a certain level of qualifications or facilities must reach a certain standard. The only kind of oversight is in the hearing aid grant scheme under the Department of Social Protection, which features a list of approved providers who must be members of the professional association, the Irish Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists, ISHAA, but that is all. Last year, in our opening statement, we provided a figure showing that almost 28,000 people made a hearing aid claim.

That equated to between €26 million and €27 million in value. As it is demand led and PRSI related and is, therefore, a social insurance scheme, the State is probably investing more - I do not have the exact figure for the HSE - in audiology support via the Department of Social Protection than the HSE. I do not think that is well-known. It is important because that pathway is the one where people will often want to get support, but they simply cannot afford it as they do not have the money in their pocket.