Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

I thank Senators on all sides for their positive and sincere contributions in this debate. It is not often we sing from the same hymn sheet as we did during this debate. As the Minister of State said, diabetes preventative measures must centre on lifestyle. Everyone must be responsible for their health and lifestyle, maintaining healthy eating, reducing alcohol intake and taking regular exercise.

Senator Twomey referred to having a plan for patients who develop diabetes. GPs would be their first port of call and most primary care centres now have practitioners of those other disciplines that can help in the treatment of diabetes.

It is important to raise people's awareness of the symptoms of diabetes. An effective way of doing so is through advertising campaigns on television and billboards. People need to be aware that frequently feeling thirsty could be a sign of developing diabetes. We associate blood pressure and high cholesterol with other conditions and perhaps we do not put them down to diabetes often enough. We should educate people in this regard.

Investment would yield an excellent return to the State and the Government. The Minister of State referred to the need for GPs to be armed with what is needed to control, maintain and look after a person with diabetes and the need for agreed protocol and pathways to follow. The Minister of State should consider seriously the potential of the College of Podiatry in Galway, which has been discussed this evening, and of its graduates which we hope will emerge in 2012. We must ensure we get them into the HSE or the workforce where they can take care of patients. We must keep this issue high on the agenda. We debated it last year and perhaps we should revisit it again in nine months. I thank everyone for their contribution.