Jim Higgins
Ceist:150 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Health the number of babies born in each of the years in 1990 to 1993 with birth defects.
Written Answers. - Birth Defects.
The information requested by the Deputy is not available. As part of the birth notification system, statistical information is collected on each birth and includes specification of congenital birth defects. However, this data cannot be used to provide national incidence figures for birth defects since the information is recorded shortly after the birth and many congenital anomalies may not be identified until some considerable time thereafter. I do not have any other source for national incidence data.