Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

The Build4Life organisation has sought a meeting with the Minister who, to date, has refused to meet it. As I pointed out, if the Minister allocated €300,000 from national lottery funding, as his predecessor did, the spend of €2.3 million would result in a tax return of €450,000. There is no timeline for the provision of this service. The final line of the Minister's reply reads, "The Minister ... is keenly aware of the needs of people living with cystic fibrosis." People with cystic fibrosis die. They do not live with it. The Minister spent a long time in opposition and although I do not mean to beat him over the head about what he promised while in opposition, it would make financial sense for the Government to allocate €300,000 for the project because it will get €450,000 back. The Minister of State is taking the matter on behalf of the Minister but as he has not given any timeline for his Department or the HSE to put this project in place, it does not augur well for those living with cystic fibrosis. While we wait for him to make this a reality and allocate funding, people with cystic fibrosis will die.

The funding has been raised by voluntary organisations and only €300,000 is required from the Government. The Government would get that money back with €150,000 on top so anybody looking at that would think this makes much sense and the project should go ahead immediately. Nevertheless, the Minister is indicating that these people must continue to live with cystic fibrosis and people may die while they wait.