Mr. Neil Johnson:

What was said by the Deputy and Mr. Collins is correct. We need to call it as it is. The reality is that preventive healthcare has never been a priority. We are at a point now where our health system is crumbling under the burden of cardiovascular disease. It is not sustainable. Clearly, the penny is beginning to drop through programmes such as Sláintecare, but this requires a significant and unprecedented approach, perhaps with a Minister of State with responsibility for prevention at Department of Health level. It may sound an extreme suggestion, but we need somebody to take ownership. So much of cardiovascular disease is preventable. Simple things can be done, but much of it is more challenging, particularly when we get into the behavioural science side of things. We are missing strong, central government leadership. We need a stand-alone strategy on cardiovascular disease prevention. Such a strategy would have knock-on benefits for many other diseases such as cancer, kidney disease, diabetes, and obesity, all of which share the same risk factors, but nobody in Ireland is taking singular responsibility for the prevention agenda.