David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome all our witnesses. Their main call seems to be for a national vision strategy. They set out the reasons for that, including guiding policymakers and setting out a coherent plan. Representatives from the Irish Cancer Society who were before the committee a number of weeks ago talked about the national cancer strategy. While having a national strategy is very important, their concern was that it was not properly funded. Whatever strategies are put in place, there has to be funding behind them. Otherwise we will have a strategy that is just words on paper, as they said.

On the need for a national vision strategy, will the witnesses take us through what they see as the core components of that, including why it is important and what added value it would bring? I say that in the context of the remarks they made about Vision Ireland's funding, which has not significantly increased as regards the core grant for the past ten years or more. What is the need for the strategy? What will it do? What is its importance from Vision Ireland's perspective? How do the witnesses see the funding for Vision Ireland being part of the rolling out of a new national strategy?