Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Correspondence was written on 28 July 2005 and the Chief Medical Officer in the Department received it on 3 August 2005. The Department then took the matter up with the national director of population health in the Health Service Executive, referring to the recommendations of the national council and requesting that appropriate action be taken to provide an effective level of community protection. On 16 August 2005, the assistant director of population health to the Health Service Executive wrote to the Department and confirmed the Health Service Executive was keen to implement the recommendations and that planning for this had commenced on 6 September.

The Department reaffirmed to the Health Service Executive that the allocation of resources for this priority public health initiative was a matter for the Health Service Executive having regard to its contingency fund and the 2006 Estimates process. The executive announced on 20 September 2005 it had made the introduction of the campaign an urgent priority and will commence its introduction as soon as possible. This is the history of the Department's involvement in the matter. I have outlined the basis of the campaign which will be launched in mid-November and will be on a phased basis of six months, starting with the relevant categories of children.

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