Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)

I am sure the Minister would agree that for too long women's health was not discussed and was seen as something secretive or embarrassing. As a result, for decades, women's healthcare has been utterly neglected. This is not exclusive to women with endometriosis; it concerns a whole range of things. This needs to end. Especially as the Minister is a woman, I appeal to her to see what this motion says and what these women have told us needs to be done. It comes from the expertise of the women around us today.

I am conscious of time but I want to share the lived experience of a woman who contacted me. She now has stage 4 endometriosis. She was diagnosed in March 2023 at 36 years of age, having suffered terribly with this illness since she first got her period at the age of 11. She was in and out of hospital, suffered loads of misdiagnosis and was even told it was muscle pain or, as she said, some rubbish like that. I ask the Minister to listen to these women.

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