Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister. I have spent more time with him in the last week than I have with my husband so the Minister might get tongues wagging. I apologise if some of these points have been covered already but I had to go on the plinth earlier.

I ask the Minister to comment on the Ombudsman's comments this morning on the Learning to Get Better report and the recommendations not being implemented. As the Minister knows, the HSE accepted 36 recommendations, fully implemented ten, partially implemented 17 and the other nine recommendations were either not implemented or are still being considered.

Is there any update on Respreeza?

I know that FreeStyle Libre has come up many times before but I have been contacted by people a lot more in recent times on this issue than previously. If this was reimbursed it would change these people's lives. Obviously none of us would like to be pricking our finger every day. Sometimes people must do it up to ten times per day and it is causing much pain. It would make a difference to these 20,000 adults and it would not be a huge financial cost so I recommend that they be looked after. I know that four to 21 year olds are covered but when a person reaches 21 years of age will they continue to be covered into the future? That would be good because obviously then everybody would eventually be covered but at the moment many people are enduring much pain every day.

While I know this is the remit of the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, unfortunately he is not here today. I highlight the waiting list for the assessment of need and after that there is also still a large waiting list for the therapies that are recommended in the assessment. For some reason, Cork seems to be particularly badly hit. We are finding it hard to get to the cause of that but I highlight the seriousness of that to the Minister.