Róisín Shortall
Question:533. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health the current financial supports his Department provides to chronic pain syndrome research; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26653/14]
View answerTuesday, 24 June 2014
Questions (533)
Written answers
My Department supports research in health through the Health Research Board (HRB). The HRB is a statutory body under the aegis of the Department of Health and is the lead agency in Ireland supporting and funding health research. In 2014 the HRB received from my Department an allocation of €30.654m.
I am advised by the HRB that it has current commitments of €2.64M in research projects concerned with chronic pain, which examine a range of elements of this syndrome including mechanisms of disease, population prevalence, clinical, pharmaceutical, psychological and self-management of chronic pain and the economic impacts of chronic pain on sufferers. I am also informed that since 2005 the HRB has invested more than €4.6M in research projects that examined some aspect of chronic pain. Health research projects in Ireland, including those related to chronic pain syndrome, can also take place in many other fora including universities, hospitals, etc. Information on these research projects is not available in my Department.