Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, for attending. Today, I am following up on a reply from the Minister for Health to a parliamentary question last October, in which he said his Department was considering a proposal to establish a working group to assist in the development of an updated strategy that addresses the hearing needs of the Irish population. I am grateful for the great advocacy work of those in Chime Ireland, who have brought this urgent matter to my attention and who do great work in this area. I hope the Minister of State will be able to provide us with an update on what progress has been made and when the working group will meet. I am aware that the last time there was any strategy on hearing needs was in 2011, so a revised strategy is long overdue.

Hearing loss is a common health condition, especially among older people. Some 300,000 adults in Ireland are affected but most have had no diagnosis or intervention. At an individual level, unmanaged hearing loss can impact significantly on personal relationships and social partnerships, leading to isolation and loneliness. It can also lead to other health difficulties, such as depression and cognitive decline. Based on The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, TILDA, figures, there are 50,000 people in Ireland with depression and-or depressive symptoms due to unmanaged hearing loss, while The Lancetcommission estimated that up to 8% of dementia is preventable through early treatment for hearing loss.

Hearing aids are an effective solution for most people with acquired hearing loss. More than 80% of people who get hearing aids say they improve the quality of their lives and family relationships, while fitting of hearing aids has been shown to remove the risk of cognitive decline associated with hearing loss.

The health burden associated with unmanaged hearing loss is so high that, in 2021, the World Health Organization concluded that for every €1 invested in hearing care, governments could expect a return of almost €16 over the following ten years. In the face of this evidence, it is extraordinary that the Minister for Health and his Department are not acting immediately to provide timely access to hearing care for whole populations. A Department of Social Protection report on the affordability of hearing aids in 2020 acknowledged that we in Ireland were prescribing hearing aids at less than half the rate per head of population than happens in the UK.

Cost is a major factor in the low uptake of hearing aids here in Ireland. Those with a medical card who are entitled to free hearing aids from the HSE are twice as likely to have hearing aids compared with those who do not have a medical card. The hearing aid grant available to people with the required level of PRSI payments is actually less than it was 15 years ago. Meanwhile, those on a medical card can wait up to three years for an initial appointment due to long HSE waiting lists.

I hope the Department of Health will have good news for me today and that it is establishing a working group to help develop a comprehensive and cohesive national hearing plan which will enhance public health and save the Department of Health millions of euro.