Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for updating the House. The DAFNE programme is a critical part of the management of diabetes. Professionals not being in place means that it cannot be provided, and if it is not provided sooner rather than later, the Government will have to consider an alternative approach, that is, making professionals in other diabetic clinics available to Limerick.

There is an inequity. People in Ennis and Limerick who are suffering type 1 diabetes having to go to Galway, Cork or elsewhere is not fair when people in Galway and Cork do not have to travel because their local clinics are able to provide them with supports and services.While I welcome this, I ask the Minister of State to seek from the University Limerick Hospitals Group an update on whether it has hired the extra professionals required and, if not, what stage the recruitment process has reached and when we can expect the staff to be appointed. If the Minister of State's office makes that response available to me, I will make it available to people in the mid-west who are suffering from type 1 diabetes.