Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to read to the Taoiseach a letter from Nikita Clarke, who is from Dublin and who I met recently. She suffers from suspected endometriosis:

Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this letter. Please listen carefully, this is not easy to talk or write about. I am 18-years-old and instead of getting my driver's licence, picking out a Debs dress, studying for my leaving cert, going out with friends or getting a job, I spend my days sitting bed in horrific amounts of pain. My days just roll in all together. I barely get any sleep because of pain. Everything I do isn't without a high level of pain. Walking hurts. I have to use a walker and a wheelchair to get around. I need help getting dressed, having a shower, doing my hair, going to the toilet. It's humiliating. Being a young woman once full of hopes and dreams, now completely numb. I don't allow myself to feel because if I do, I won't be able to stop. I have to watch my friends move on with life, going to parties, graduating, getting their licences and so much more, while I hate weekends because it means a doctor won't call to set up my surgery. How sad. An 18-year-old who hates weekends. I need the surgery to see if I have endometriosis. It has been three and half years. I have been patient. I have done everything the doctor told me to do. I am fully dependent on my mam. I get headaches that blur my vision. I have pain peeing, stomach pain. I’ve had bleeding constantly with breaks only of a few days. How am I meant to stay happy and hopeful when no one is listening to me or helping. I once dreamt of being a lawyer, a doctor or nurse, having a family of my own. Now, I am a young woman alive but not living. Please help me live again.

Endometriosis is a crisis in women's health. It is a chronic, inflammatory and whole-body disease that affects the pelvic region, uterus, fallopian tubes and cervix. It effects one in ten women in Ireland and yet it takes nine years for a woman to get a diagnosis here. Often, by the time an endometriosis diagnosis is received, the disease has spread beyond the reproductive system. It can travel to the bladder, bowels, diaphragm and even the lungs. Instead of receiving excision surgery here in Ireland, many women and girls are forced to travel abroad to have the specialised surgery and to receive an official diagnosis. The lack of understanding and awareness often sees the suffering of women and girls dismissed, their pain often put down to bad periods. Instead of getting proper care, they receive outdated treatment that prolongs pain and trauma.

Tá géarchéim inmheatróise i gcúram sláinte na mban in Éirinn. Cuirtear iachall ar mhná diagnóis agus cúram a lorg thar lear. Bíonn ar a lán ban fulaingt go ciúin. Caithfidh an Rialtas gníomhú chun deireadh a chur leis an gcrá croí seo.

This scandal has impacted thousands of women, with very few families left unaffected and it has gone on for far too long. Will the Taoiseach commit to delivering a long overdue specialised centre for the treatment of endometriosis, and will he ensure the provision of excision surgery in Ireland is available so women are not forced to seek care abroad?

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