Ms Lorna McGreehan:

I did not mention the mobility grants being stopped for new entrants in 2013. The grants I was talking about are assistive technology grants.

They are not available to people in the public sector; they are at the discretion of the employer. Private sector employers can access grants on behalf of their employees. It would be great if there was a national register of people who had chronic illnesses and a statutory entitlement to a day off to go to the doctor. I would probably have ten hospital appointments in Dublin. Taking ten days out of people's annual leave entitlement is a lot when they are exhausted. It is not fair on their partners because they want to go away for a couple of days but they are constantly in the car driving to Dublin. People go up to Dublin and are not even fit to go for a walk around St. Stephen's Green and smell the coffee. These issues are very important. I would like a national register of people with chronic diseases. Employers are afraid that people will take advantage of statutory days. The fear in some organisations is that people would get one up on the employer. We are not trying to get one up on anybody. We just want to live and work. We just want to breathe and be able to have a level playing field in all aspects of our lives. This would be great.