Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The technology is not cheap. The cost of one sensor is about €1,500 to €3,000 per year. They are expensive and, hence, the additional cost to the State would be €200 million to €400 million. If the Deputy is comfortable with sending me on details of the case or if his constituent is happy to send them on, I will take a look specifically at what he is saying he had access to and now does not have access to. I would be concerned if there are patients who were eligible and who, for some bureaucratic reason, are now being told they are not eligible. I will certainly take a look at that. Then, as the Deputy said, once we have the diabetes register in place, we can start doing the assessments now with respect to the money saved by preventing people having to go into hospital, particularly combined with the diabetes management serves we now have in general practice with the chronic disease management hubs. At that point, we can look to see if there is a way of phasing this in, perhaps on a means-tested basis or on the basis of clinical need.

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