Phil Prendergast (Labour)

I would like to be associated with the remarks of the other speakers on the President-elect, Senator Obama, and I wish him well.

I express my deep concern at the decision by the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, to roll back on the decision to make available the cervical cancer vaccine. As a health care professional who has regularly gone into schools to undertake the sexual health programme, I believe that was a brilliant initiative which would safeguard 200 girls a year and prevent them getting cervical cancer later in life. That issue should be examined. It will affect 24,000 young girls per annum at a cost of €9.7 million. There should be scope within any system to save that money, which is not a huge amount. The benefits would be far-reaching. We should not cut back on anything that will limit exposure to something that is dangerous and that can be prevented and inoculated against.