Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the HSE's decision to reimburse FreeStyle Libre for children and young adults. As the Minister of State is aware, almost 190,000 people in Ireland have diabetes, which is a chronic disease that takes a lot of management. This device, which allows blood glucose levels to be monitored without invasive finger prick testing, is an absolute game-changer for anyone suffering with diabetes.

In some cases, patients must test their glucose levels up to ten times a day. While I welcome the decision to roll this out for children and young adults, it is an absolute necessity to roll it out to all type 1 diabetics to allow them to manage their illness actively in a meaningful and continuous way on the basis of real-time information as to their glucose levels.

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