Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are a couple of points I want to make. I think it is incredible that up to 250,000 women in this State live with chronic pain and life-altering conditions, yet the understanding of endometriosis is so limited. The witnesses outlined some of the outcomes they hoped would emerge from today's meeting. Certainly, I found it educational myself. I think anyone who is listening at home will have found it very educational as well. As most of the members said, endometriosis is not something that we are overly familiar with. We know of women who have it but we do not know the detail of it. It is normally the case in Ireland that people are very polite and do not like to ask how a condition impacts on a patient's life. I have a few questions around diagnosis. The timescale for diagnosis is fairly shocking. On average, women aged under 25 are presenting with pain symptoms for nine years before diagnosis, and they are facing longer delays than those aged over 25. I do not understand that. The witnesses might expand on that. What do the witnesses attribute the length of time it takes for diagnosis to, and why is there such a disparity between the two age groups? Are they still trying to find out what it is when the patient is under 25? Is it dismissed as period pain or whatever? The witnesses might respond to that question first.