Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept that much progress has been made, in no small part due to the people who have campaigned and stuck at it over the years. I also accept that the outpatient charges have been dealt with. We need to move to a situation where no haemochromatosis patient should have to be treated in hospital. Outpatient services are under enough pressure. This should be dealt with through the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, which would be the most acceptable model, unless there are very specific reasons not to do that.

The hereditary screening programme has been deferred due to new evidence. I would like to know what that new evidence is, why this has been deferred and how long it is going to be deferred. It is extremely important that hereditary haemochromatosis is screened for and that people who are at risk as a result of their family tree are screened as a matter of form, in a convenient way that does not cost them anything and encourages them to be screened. I cannot understand what the new evidence is. There may be new evidence that I am not aware of but I would be interested to know why the new evidence is going to delay the decision on a screening programme.