With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 31 and 32 together.
Accurate statistics are not available on the number of cot deaths occurring annually in the State. This is because these deaths are not at present specifically identified in the World Health Organisation's classification of diseases which is the basis of our mortality statistics.
However, the number of deaths to infants under one year for which no obvious cause of death was available was 65 in 1975 and 85 in 1976. The corresponding figure for 1977 is not yet available.
Some research has been carried out in other countries into the causes of sudden deaths of non-specific cause in infancy. In Ireland the Department of Community Health in Trinity College Dublin has undertaken reasearch into the causes of such deaths.
I have asked the Medico-Social Research Board to assess the feasibility and need for reasearch in this area. The question of supporting further research will be decided when the board has completed its assessment.