Ms Ilanna Darcy:

As for the number of sufferers, that is difficult to say. We do not yet know. It is estimated to be one in ten women, which might equate to 150,000 or even 200,000 women in Ireland.

On the schools question, it would be initially to create awareness. There could be campaigns where people would speak in schools or information leaflets could be provided in order that young girls would understand, if they are suffering pain that impacts on their day-to-day life and means they cannot go to school or participate in sport, that that is not normal. Historically, this was considered to be something girls just had to deal with, perhaps because they did not have a high pain threshold and so on, but we now know that is not the case. If they are armed with the information they need to be able to recognise the symptoms early enough, that would help them to seek treatment and to get a proper diagnosis.