Written answers
Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Department of Health
Health Services
Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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2875. To ask the Minister for Health her plans to introduce type 1 diabetes screening to reduce the number of children diagnosed with diabetic ketoacidosis. [42523/25]
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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As Minister for Health, I am determined to support our screening programmes, which are a valuable part of our health service, enabling early treatment and care for many people, and improving the overall health of our population.
Diabetes Mellitus, often referred to simply as diabetes, is a chronic disease that causes a person’s blood glucose level to become too high. Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1D): caused by the body’s own immune system destroying the insulin-making cells (beta-cells) of the pancreas. It always requires treatment with insulin delivered subcutaneously by injections or insulin pump and, frequently, continuous glucose monitoring. People can be diagnosed with diabetes at any age, from very early childhood, to senior years. The Irish Childhood Diabetes National Register indicates that there are approximately 350 children under 15 diagnosed with type 1 diabetes each year.
I would note that proposed changes to Ireland’s screening programmes will be facilitated through established, evidence-driven protocols. The National Screening Advisory Committee (NSAC) is an independent expert group that considers proposed changes by assessing the evidence robustly and transparently, and against internationally accepted criteria, before making recommendations to me as Minister. The rigorous processes utilised by NSAC are critical to ensure that our screening programmes are effective, quality assured and operating to safe standards. Screening for type 1 diabetes is an area which starting to be considered internationally. To date. most screening is in a research capacity, although there are a small number of countries where population-based screening has been established very recently.
The NSAC holds annual Calls for Submissions, which invite proposals from all stakeholders and organisations, including members of the public, the HSE and other medical professionals, for the introduction of new screening programmes or changes to existing programmes. The 2025 Call for Submissions is now live and will remain open until 12 September 2025.
Further information on how to make a submission, along with the list of conditions currently on NSAC’s work programme from previous calls for submission, is available on the NSAC website, at www.nsacommittee.gov.ie.
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