Ms Anna-Karin Ulpe:

I thank the Senator for that contribution. The idea about a one-stop-shop would be absolutely fantastic because one has to duplicate so many applications for every individual piece of help that one can get and it takes absolutely all of one's available energy. It has been just form-filling, eating and sleeping. That is my life, more or less, so if the different parts of society could talk to each other and co-ordinate between themselves it would take a huge load off us really.

When assessing if people are eligible for different grants, benefits, housing or the fuel allowance, one important thing is forgotten now and that is to take into account what a person's available income is after his or her rent is paid. I constantly feel like we renters in the private sector are forgotten about. We may have an income that would have been adequate if we lived in social housing or if we had a long-term mortgage but with the current market rent, we are very often left with less after rent is paid than the supplementary welfare allowance. We are, therefore, the poorest percentile in Ireland and yet for some things, we cannot get help. We do not qualify. That is extremely frustrating.

I can tell the Senator about the numbers of people with ME in Ireland. It should be approximately 10,000 to 19,000 people but it is really hard to estimate because so many people are undiagnosed as a result of lacking consultants and because so many people cannot travel to care or consultants abroad. They are really stuck in that sense. There is a very good organisation called ME Advocates Ireland, MEAI. It has a survey under way that will be handed over to the HSE when the data is collated and interpreted, and probably to the Department of Health as well. Then, the Senator will be able to look at this and see what the situation is for all those people in Ireland now and what we need help with. If anybody-----