Martin Conway (Fine Gael)

I have been a member of this committee for a number of years, and it is a breath of fresh air to have a Minister who comes in and calls it out. A Minister who calls out the good practices - and what Sandra Broderick is doing in Limerick has to be commended - but also calls out the bad practices and points out where people have responsibilities within the system to improve and change the culture.

I welcome the long-overdue publication of the HIQA report. It took longer than it should have taken. What is the Minister's thinking in terms of a timeline of action? I know there is significant work being done on capacity. When will the Minister be in a position to escalate and action recommendations, or at least give an indication of what the specifics will be from the report she is going to action, because it did say immediate action was needed? It is a 1,200-page report and does need some consideration, but I am interested to know what the Minister is thinking in terms of a timeline.

Mr. Gloster and I have spoken before in the committee about the eye clinic liaison service, which is a phenomenal service Mr. Gloster has shown great leadership to in terms of supporting. Maybe down along the line in the HSE the same commitment to supporting the service is not there, because I have facts and figures where thousands of extra people have been referred to stepdown supports as a result of the service. Will he reaffirm his commitment to this programme, which is extremely important to the blind and visually impaired people of this country and people who are newly diagnosed with vision impairments? Mr. Gloster is very familiar with the programme. It is a very specific question and I would appreciate if he could reaffirm his commitment to it.