Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I will supply the Deputy with the figures I have and will ask the CSO to pass on to the Deputy the relevant regional figures and the comparisons with figures in other European countries. The figures I have will be of interest to the Deputy and to others.

Of the deaths occurring in 2000, 25.3% were due to cancer, 26.1% to various forms of heart disease, 13.2% to other diseases of the circulatory system and 14.6% to diseases of the respiratory system. The number of deaths occurring in 2002, 29,683, was the lowest recorded since the production of vital statistics began in 1864. The death rate of 7.6 per 1,000 of the population in 2002 was also the lowest ever recorded.

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