Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. I will ask all my questions and then hand over to them, if that is okay, for the sake of time.

One of the things we welcome, which is indicative of the change from NCBI to Vision Ireland, is that it is engaging with so many people who are in the process of possibly experiencing vision loss. That affects a huge proportion of the population who might not think of themselves as visually impaired or blind and in a particular box. I imagine that in the past decade the number of people Vision Ireland has reached out to and engaged with is very different in that it has significantly increased, but it is doing so with the same budget.

I will go back to the matter of the ophthalmology model of eye care outlined in the 2017 report. My understanding was that was meant to run from 2017 to 2019, for the most part, and there was a piece of money beside that of €23 million. I would like to understand, from Vision Ireland's perspective, what happened in the intervening Covid years. What kind of impact did that have on the model of care? We have had a new clinical lead since December 2023. Has there been any interaction between Vision Ireland and the clinical lead on possibly creating a national strategy? What is the engagement? We are always pushing the HSE to listen to patient advocates and NGOs.

I am interested in understanding a little more. All the red flags went off when Mr. White said Vision Ireland will have six contracts, and possibly 21 more, with individual RHAs and health areas.

I am interested in knowing what administrative burden this places on Vision Ireland as a relatively small organisation with a tight budget, all of which it wants to put on the front line. The HSE could streamline that system. What kind of pressure does this situation put on the organisation?

What are the witnesses' views on integrated eye care teams and whether they are taking a regional approach that is fair and not a postcode lottery, which is what is seen in many services? Those are probably enough questions for the two and a half minutes remaining.