Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Question 70: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the cost of providing a free annual health check for persons under the age of 16; the costing for providing the same service for persons under the age of 18; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15395/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The best health for children programme provides a core surveillance programme for all children in the 0-12 age group and covers both pre-school developmental examinations as well as the school health service. The best health for children programme first introduced national recommendations on child health screening and surveillance in 1999 and these were further revised in 2004.

The recommended programme of pre-school developmental examinations for children includes a number of health checks from birth: metabolic screening; developmental assessments; hearing assessments; vision screening; medical examinations; growth monitoring; and oral and dental examinations.

Current recommendations for child health screening that should be offered to children attending primary schools are as follows: health assessment at school entry with follow up selective medical examination, where necessary; hearing screening at school entry; and vision screening at school entry and school exit.

There are no other schemes to provide annual health checks for persons under 16 years of age or under 18 years of age and I have no plans at present to introduce such a scheme. The cost of providing this service would be dependent on the fee charged by the provider, the nature and extent of the health check and whether any consequential treatment would be included in such a scheme.