Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A sum of €20.6 million was provided in budget 2023 to alleviate the financial burden of statutory hospital charges and I welcome that. Any reduction in charges for patients is welcome.

However, I was disappointed today when I attended a presentation by the Endometriosis Association of Ireland in the audiovisual room on Leinster House. Six women spoke about their issues today. They told us that they were so disappointed that not one person from the Department of Health turned up to the presentation in the audiovisual room today. They told us that they had to take medication to get there today. They took it from early morning in order to be able to make the journey to the audiovisual room and they were hoping that somebody from the Department of Health would be there, having been invited. However, nobody turned up. They told us that they travelled from all over the country, in pain, to make the effort to explain their problems but representatives of the Department could not even cross the corridor or cross the car park to hear their story. That was very disappointing. We are talking here about money and these people are in pain every day. They are looking for specialists in the field. They told us that 63% of the medical profession do not understand the prognosis for this and the rest are too busy within their own areas to diagnose it. All they need is a specialist to diagnose their issue. In the interim, they want to be able to go across the water to get the treatment that they need which is not available here. The Government should fund that. Let us get specialists to diagnose these problems and help these women to get the treatment they need. If we cannot provide that treatment here, it should be provided for them somewhere else in the world.

See this speech in context