Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegations for attending today's meeting. I was taken aback at some of the presentations because, quite frankly, I was not aware of the level and prevalence of lung disease in Ireland. Deputy Ó Caoláin, who normally attends this committee on behalf of Sinn Féin but is in Stormont for an examination of the health services from a North-South perspective, would probably have been more aware of it than me. I commend the work the various groups are doing in highlighting this issue and making the public and the Government more aware of it.

Do we have any longitudinal studies to help us understand why Ireland has the fourth highest rate of asthma in Europe? Has the prevalence of asthma increased or decreased over the past ten, 20 and 30 years? Why does one in five of our children suffer from asthma? Why are those from poor educational backgrounds four times more likely to have the disease? Why does the rate of prevalence move from 20% of children to 10% of the general population?

Do people who suffer from chronic lung disease have automatic entitlement to general practitioner, GP, pharmacy and hospital services and medical cards? Is testing for chronic lung disease part of the routine child health assessment programme or is there a test that can be applied to infants and younger children? Would it help if this were to be a routine part of the infant and child welfare programme? Do we have any information on the impact of early diagnosis and treatment of lung disease from a health, well-being and health economics perspective? Little enough was said about prevention and health promotion except for cigarettes. Is lung disease a hereditary problem and, accordingly, something we cannot do anything about?