Mike Kennelly (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for the response. Really, it is where we are and where we want to be, to be honest. Even in the last paragraph of his written reply, it refers to response times. I want to get away from the response times and to early intervention, where people are mapped from ages 12 to 18. They need to be mandatorily screened, with a certificate if they are going into competitive sports or whatever. They need to be mandatorily tested. It is not the response on the last page of the Minister of State's reply that I am looking for; rather, I am looking for a response that will put in place a mandatory screening check for every child who wants to participate in sports – nothing else.

I respect that there is a lot going on but it is all nearly parallel to running afterwards. I want it to be mandatory and I want the Government to take up my proposal to make it mandatory. It is not illegal to save a life through early prevention. If we could monitor kids going to school, there could be an underlying condition identified in their older siblings or whatever and a child’s life could be saved in the meantime. I have seen it in Killarney. There was a case recently of a male athlete whose whole family needed pacemakers within a week because there was an underlying condition.

I respect the Minister of State’s response but I call on the Minister to implement mandatory screening for all of the kids involved.