Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was following the meeting online and heard all of our guests' contributions. I really appreciate the work they put into their opening statements as well as the time they are spending with us today. I know they are all volunteers. The work they are doing, on a very limited budget and with only volunteers, is absolutely tremendous. There is far more public awareness of endometriosis now than there would have been a number of years ago and that is down to the work our guests are doing. I commend them on that.

I have spoken to a lot of people who have endometriosis and their families. I have colleagues and friends who have endometriosis and I have also met people during the course of my work who have the disease.

What comes across is the torture that goes on with this disease, the gaslighting that women go through for years and women being fobbed off, misbelieved and treated like they are some sort of hysterical woman who cannot cope with a bit of pain. It has a devastating effect on women, their mental health and their families. It is not good enough that women have to rely on Google to give them a diagnosis. Ms McMahon mentioned that she researched this condition herself and presented her findings to her GP. We are all told that when we are sick, the best thing to do is not to Google anything and go to our GP but the reverse applies with sufferers of endometriosis. It is not a good, sustainable position. We need to move on from where we are at the moment.

The national endometriosis framework is a positive step forward but the education piece is big. I appreciate what the witnesses said about their lack of ability to do that work. We are here to funnel all of this information back to the Minister for Health and try to get a national strategy. The education part, from what I can see, involves a public awareness campaign and education within the school system so young girls can spot what is a normal, healthy menstrual cycle and what is not, and parents can also see the red flags. Women and girls should not be missing a family occasion, education or school because of their period. Their career progression is suffering, they are missing out on education and they cannot participate in sports. The effect on career progression negatively impacts on their financial stability, independence, pension – you name it. The gender pay gap is real and many of these hidden issues feed into it. Women feel they are managing pain and managing their situation to much an extent that they cannot take on anything extra.

Going abroad is not ideal for healthcare and that is one message coming from this meeting. In the recent past, we sent women abroad for healthcare and it was disastrous. We cannot stand over that and let it continue. I appreciate the point that there are far bigger populations in other countries, which allows surgeons to specialise. Is there any merit in connecting perhaps one or two Irish surgeons with experts in Romania, let us say, to do what would almost be mentoring? Is that something the witnesses would advocate?