David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Sinn Féin held nine public meetings on the issue of endometriosis over the past number of months. I attended some of those meetings. I was shocked when I heard a lot of the stories told by women. I listened carefully and watched as many of them cried in the presence of family members. The collective trauma in the room caught me by surprise. The message from these women of feeling ignored and dismissed and being offered substandard care was truly shocking. Also shocking was the number of women who told me they had to travel abroad, not through choice but through necessity. A 27-year-old woman had three surgeries, one in Ireland, and then had to travel to London for a radical hysterectomy. A lot of her organs, unfortunately, were taken out. It was a really traumatic experience for her.

The same women, 40 of whom are in the Public Gallery, were in the Sinn Féin party room earlier. I got chatting to some of them. They find the Minster's amendment offensive. Nowhere in the amendment does it capture what these women feel. It does not capture the substandard service or the fact that there is no pathway to diagnosis for many women. It is too late in many cases. There can be misdiagnosis, incorrect treatment and substandard care. Really galling for them is the part that says women, as a choice, can travel abroad. We have had far too much of that when it comes to women's healthcare. It is not a choice for these women. They felt heartbroken. The women who travelled were often on their own or in some cases had one or two family members with them. It was not for a day or a week even that these women were away. They can be away for three or four weeks or even longer. No woman should have to go through that. No woman should have to travel abroad.

I have spoken to masters of hospitals and specialists who deliver this service. All of them put their hands up and said they were not providing the care they should and there is an awful lot more that needs to be done. I appeal to the Minister, when this debate is finished, to talk to the women in the Public Gallery and hear their message. If she heard their message and listened to their voices, I guarantee she would do everything possible to provide the centre of excellence needed and make sure there are specialist training programmes in place to train surgeons and specialists to provide gold standard care, the necessary excisions, as opposed to some of the substandard treatments these women are getting.

As a male, I stand with these women. Men and women in this House need to say enough is enough, we have to do more to support women with endometriosis. I encourage the Minister not to move her amendment and to support our motion.

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