Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach very much. If the Irish blood test is accurate and the Irish medical system stand behind it 100%, is it okay for people who have tested positive on the German test to give blood to the Irish Blood Transfusion Service? That is an interesting question for the Minister for Health to think about. In the United States, the CDC, from which we get our guidance and which focuses on disease prevention and control, environmental health, health promotion and health education, grossly underestimated the original figures of people affected by Lyme disease. They now diagnose a minimum of 300,000 people with Lyme disease year on year. It is now so bad that these figures are expected to reach 1 million this year. Lyme disease is almost twice as common as breast cancer and six times more common than HIV and AIDS. Are we going to go down the same road of not acknowledging the severity and gravity of Lyme disease and the problem here in Ireland? What if the CDC is wrong and the German test is accurate?

Why has the National Parks and Wildlife Service not erected signage at all entrances to the national parks? Surely it has a duty of care to protect the member of the public who use them. Nearly all of our park rangers in one particular area, which I will not name, have Lyme disease at present. Nationally, up to 50% have contracted the disease. That is a shocking figure.

Finally, it is only right and proper to thank all the politicians who met, at the gates of Leinster House, sufferers of Lyme disease who came here over recent months. We met teenagers, 16 and 17 year olds, and their parents. They are at home in bed, riddled with pain. They are not able to go to school or to college. It is very wrong and I call on the Minister for Health and the Government to acknowledge Lyme disease and the enormity of what the future holds if we do not create awareness.

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