Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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415. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to roll out the newborn screening test pilot scheme for detecting metachromatic leukodystrophy which was developed and piloted recently in the Unites States of America. [17763/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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All babies (between 3 and 5 days old) born in Ireland are currently screened for 8 rare but serious medical conditions as part of the National Newborn Bloodspot Screening Programme. Metachromatic leukodystrophy currently is not part of the newborn bloodspot screening.

As recommended in the Scally Review (2019), a National Screening Committee will be established and become operational before the end of 2019. Similar, to the UK National Screening Committee, their role will be to undertake an independent assessment of the evidence for screening for a particular condition against internationally accepted criteria. Any potential changes to the National Newborn Bloodspot Screening Programme will be incorporated as part of the Committee's work programme.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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416. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to increase the number of rare disorders for which newborn babies are screened. [17764/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Currently all babies (between 3 and 5 days old) born in Ireland are screened for 8 rare but serious medical conditions as part of the National Newborn Bloodspot Screening Programme. These include:

- cystic fibrosis

- congenital hypothyroidism

- phenylketonuria

- classical galactosaemia

- MCADD (medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency)

- homocystinuria

- maple syrup urine disease

- glutaric aciduria type 1.

As recommended in the Scally Review (2019), a National Screening Committee will be established and become operational before the end of 2019. Similar, to the UK National Screening Committee, their role will be to undertake an independent assessment of the evidence for screening for a particular condition against internationally accepted criteria. Any potential changes to the National Newborn Bloodspot Screening Programme will be incorporated as part of the Committee's work programme.