Ms Richelle Flanagan:

Unfortunately, the drug used for Parkinson's, which is called levodopa, is 60 years old and has not really advanced hugely, and partly that is to do with a lack of funding for research. However, we do have what we call device-aided assisted therapy. One is deep brain stimulation, which is open brain surgery and which can be very successful. I am delighted to say we can now access this treatment in Ireland. However, it is limited by the fact we only have one neurosurgeon who can do it, so a lot of people still travel to the UK and Northern Ireland to get that surgery done. There is a new therapy called Produodopa, which a subcutaneous medication which has just been signed off by the HSE. That has promise but will probably be limited initially. There are some signs of some therapies but-----