I propose to take Questions Nos. 21, 62, and 63 together.
Advice to the public about AIDS is available in all health board areas through general practitioners, public health clinics, the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Service, the National Drugs Advisory and Treatment Centre at Jervis Street Hospital and in a leaflet published by the Health Education Bureau which is being circulated by the health boards.
In addition my Department's deputy chief medical officer, with special responsibility for AIDS services, continues to make himself available to the media, for interview, with a view to disseminating information about AIDS to as wide a public as possible.
A booklet on AIDS prepared by my Department has been circulated to all doctors in the country to ensure that they are in a position to advise the public. My Department circulate health boards with the latest information from WHO to enable them to keep their advice up-to-date.
There have been 12 cases of AIDS in Ireland to date, of which seven have died (two of these seven cases died abroad). The latest figures show 502 positive tests for HIV antibodies. I am satisfied that the Department's detailed monitoring system ensures that a comprehensive register of cases and suspected cases is maintained. Numbers of positive tests are also reported from the virus reference laboratory, UCD as an integral part of our general strategy relative to the prevention of the spread of this syndrome.
I am currently considering what further effective steps might be taken to control the spread of AIDS in this country.