Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

The neglect and failure need to end. Endometriosis affects so many women. Like others, I have attended meetings in different parts of the country. I have heard some harrowing stories. There is also a constant theme that no matter where it is in the country, these women feel they have been abandoned by the State, and they have. They feel they have been ignored, dismissed and talked down to. In those rooms, there were also stories of unimaginable strength and determination as the women told us how they fought for years for what should be basic healthcare. A young woman from County Donegal shared her story with me of her experience of trying to access endometriosis healthcare in Ireland. Having experienced symptoms since she was 15, she attended her local GP and Letterkenny gynaecological department only to be told there was nothing wrong but the pain never went away. She had MRI and ultrasound scans and got a referral to urology where she had a cystoscopy, which was clear. She was told everything was okay and still the pain never went away. After years of living with that pain, in 2021 she was prescribed anti-depressants and told it was all in her head. Still, the pain never went away. Imagine being desperate for help, reaching out to the professionals and being told you were making it all up and it was all in your head.

The woman went privately for an exploratory laparoscopy, at a cost of €4,000, and no endometriosis was found. She was told she needed to change her diet and lifestyle - it was her again. Knowing the pain was still there and there was an underlying issue and not willing to give up, she again went privately to another gynaecologist who agreed the symptoms were consistent with endometriosis but was reluctant to operate. She had to reach out again and again. She spoke to other people with the same challenges and decided to travel to Romania in 2024, where she finally got the answers she deserved. A specialist MRI diagnosed her with endometriosis. That diagnosis took nine years of not being listened to or believed, misdiagnosis and pain. In going to Romania, she faced more difficulties. Her GP would not refer her in order to recoup her costs through the cross-border scheme so, once again, she had to go private for the referral. After she got that diagnosis in Romania and after undergoing counselling due to the lasting effects of this journey on her, she had surgery in Greece where the endometriosis was removed from multiple sites and she was also diagnosed with adenomyosis. For a decade, that young woman suffered with chronic pelvic pain, chronic fatigue, underlying issues, bowel issues, back pain and countless other symptoms, and nobody believed her. That story is not just hers; it is that of far too many women across this State. This needs to be treated like the emergency it is. Too many times, women are being failed and not believed and have to travel abroad. It has to come to an end.

I could recall other stories such as that of another woman failed by the system in this State who had to travel privately outside the State. She got her diagnosis. She was told there were cysts on her ovaries. She cried but not because she needed emergency surgery or because she had cysts on her ovaries. She cried because, for the first time, somebody believed that she had endometriosis and there was a plan in place for her afterwards. This has to come to an end. I said at the start the neglect and failure have to end. We need to start listening and believing our sisters, mothers, aunties, nieces and daughters. The care they deserve has to be put in place.

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