Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to rare diseases, I attended a briefing earlier by the medical research charities on the importance of research. We had a Private Members' debate on rare diseases and a national plan is to be put in place by the end of 2013. This is to be replicated throughout the European Union. It would be great if Ireland led by being the first to publish its national plan and to have an organised programme to deal with this issue.

This leads me to the upcoming EU Presidency, about which I also attended a briefing. There will be 1,600 meetings and 175 other events during the six months Ireland holds the Presidency. Members of both Houses, all other public representatives and, for example, schools should be briefed early about everything that is happening, It will be 14 years before Ireland holds the Presidency again and many of the students who visited the House earlier will have finished school by then. It will be important to use the opportunity to get the message out about the influence we have in Europe and the important part we play. Will the Leader bring this to the attention of the various Departments and, in particular, the Departments of Education and Skills and Foreign Affairs and Trade? We should use the Presidency to get the message out about our proactive role at European level.