Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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441. To ask the Minister for Health his views on concerns being expressed by staff at the National Centre for Medical Genetics regarding the centre’s future, specifically a proposal that it no longer be a national centre but a department of genetics at Our Lady’s Children's Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin 12 and that such a move could lead to fragmented genetic testing nationally and further that such a change would run counter to the national rare disease plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44319/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Genetics Department at Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin provides services for patients and families in Ireland affected by or at risk of a genetic disorder, and comprises three integrated units, a clinical genetics service, a cytogenetics laboratory and a molecular genetics laboratory. The service is under the governance of Crumlin, staff are employees of Crumlin, and the service has always been accountable to the CEO and under the governance of the hospital’s Board in the same manner as other clinical departments. A decision has been made by OLCHC to discontinue the separate identification of the service as the National Centre for Medical Genetics, in the interest of clarity on governance arrangements.

There have been rapid and progressive developments in the area of genetics and genomic medicine over the past five years, and this rapid development is expected to continue. Accordingly a national genetic and genomic medicine network is required that reflects this growth and expected future changes. The HSE has advised that, on 17 November, a meeting was held with the leadership team of the Genetics Department at Crumlin to address their concerns, and to outline plans to map out this national and regional network governance structure with the involvement of staff in the service.