The Minister indicated that a considerable sum was spent on the initial publicity campaign in May last year. In view of the frightening figures he has given for deaths and positive blood tests, is it his intention to establish an ongoing campaign to reinforce the notion that AIDS is an ever-present threat to the well being and health of the community? There is a complacency about AIDS. Everybody was aware of it last year but because the public end of the campaign has stopped, people seem to think that the problem has been overcome. Will the Minister consider establishing an ongoing powerful campaign to underscore the dreadful consequences of this disease for this country?

There is an ongoing campaign, perhaps not of the mass media nature that we had in 1987. Part of the money allocated to the EHB is being used in a private community based Outreach AIDS health information programme focused on drug abusers in Dublin and their contacts with their families. A freefone service is still available and the booklet which was published is still available. This year for the first time a programme was prepared for school leavers because it is my intention and that of my colleague, the Minister for Education, that no child should leave school without knowing the facts about AIDS. At the moment there are discussions as to the measures for long-term education so that children will be made aware of the facts about AIDS before leaving school. Before that programme got under way the directors of community care and the medical officers of the health boards in co-operation with the local school authorities ensured that such education was provided in 1988.