Vol. 412 No. 3
34 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will seek to insert, in the provisions of the Luxembourg Draft Treaty of the Union of the European Community concerning public health, specific provisions to create an EC-wide responsibility for the care of the elderly and of retired persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
100 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will seek to insert, in the provisions of the Luxembourg Draft Treaty of the Union of the European Community concerning public health, specific provisions to create an EC-wide responsibility for the care of the elderly and of retired persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
101 Mr. Harte asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will seek to insert, in the provisions of the Luxembourg Draft Treaty of the Union of the European Community concerning public health, specific provisions to create an EC-wide responsibility for the care of the elderly and of retired persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
116 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will seek to insert, in the provisions of the Luxembourg Draft Treaty of the Union of the European Community concerning public health, specific provisions to create an EC-wide responsibility for the care of the elderly and of retired persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 34, 100, 101 and 116 together since they have been put down in identical terms.
Health is one of the areas in which Ireland tabled a draft text at an early stage of the negotiations. We believe that this is an area where it should be possible for the Community to increase its co-operation and the draft text presently under discussion at the Inter-governmental Conference on Political Union will provide for the future Community action to be directed towards the prevention of diseases, while paying particular attention to combating major health scourges.
There are no proposals to create an EC-wide responsibility for the care of the elderly and of retired persons as these are matters which fall quite clearly within the competence of the member states as they principally concern the provision of social security and pension benefits.
