Dr. Tony Holohan:

I will do my best to go back over the questions and if I inadvertently leave some out, members can let me know.

Deputy Kelleher's first question was about cancer prevention capacity in regard to STIs. That was a substantial part of the rationale for the introduction of the HPV campaign and the immunisation provided to girls in their young teenage years. The uptake in Ireland is at least at or ahead of the rate in most other countries and it will be an important part of the prevention of the cancers the Deputy mentioned. That will be acknowledged as part of the strategic importance of STIs in the context of the new strategy I referred to earlier.

The Deputy asked questions about prevention and testing, which Dr. Lyons will address. The questions of HIV testing and screening and targeting of high-risk groups are considered as part of the new strategy.

Local barriers to GPs and access to knowledge are a continuing issue in access to services, particularly for young people and particularly for sensitive areas around sexual and reproductive health, whether it is access to contraception, STI services or, particularly in rural areas, people's fear of or unwillingness to attend a local GP. This is a consistent barrier and services then have to try to provide alternatives for people to be able to get around that. We acknowledge that this is a problem in the delivery of services that can be accessible in local communities.

With regard to Deputy Ó Caoláin's question about the strategy, it is our intention that we will finalise and present it for the Minister to bring to Government for approval and to publish before the end of the first quarter of 2014. He asked about Northern Ireland. As he mentioned, the strategy is chaired by the Department and it involves all the major stakeholders. We heard from some individuals who are participating in that during statements earlier. For example, Tiernan Brady is a member of the steering group. It is supported by the Institute of Public Health, which provides the secretariat and the expertise behind much of it. It is a North-South body and it has through that mechanism provided a great deal of access for the group to expertise. When one gets into public awareness of a range of issues that are not confined to sexual health, there is probably significant cross-Border value in working together, if for no other reason than to recognise the fact that we share many media, and if we work collaboratively we can share the cost burden and the expertise available to both. We want to progress that as part of the implementation of the strategy.

Dr. O'Keeffe dealt with the funding of national campaigns and the science that underpins the provision of campaigns and that continues to apply to many of the national campaigns provided principally by the HSE.

Senator Crown asked how many genitourinary consultants we have per head of population. I do not have the precise figures but I can get them for him. I do not have figures with me about international standards, but if the Senator is seeking information I see no difficulty providing that.