Ms Mary Casserly:

It is interesting to hear that ME sufferers struggle to find the numbers as well because we are saying that somewhere between 12,000 and 18,000 people in Ireland are living with Parkinson's disease. Therefore, how can we forward plan if Parkinson's is going to double by 2030? If one does not have the figures on where people are, how can one forward plan for the health service? It does not make sense for planning that we cannot get these figures. We should have a database and every condition should have exact numbers. I like the idea of having a centre to co-ordinate everything so that people could seek support or even say there is a support group. Everybody needs peer support. We could link in to all the support groups for every condition and say this is where a person can go and get peer support, which I found so beneficial. I would not have gotten half the information I have today only for my peers.