Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the Senators who tabled this motion. It is clear from the statistics and from our own personal experience of people who have asthma that very often it seems to be below the radar. If we get a common cold, we can feel very sorry for ourselves but we know it will pass very quickly. One has to stop and think why people who suffer from asthma all the time feel they are not being listened to. The Asthma Society of Ireland's report, Living with Asthma, which was published earlier in 2015, is quite clear in stating that people who have asthma feel they are not being listened to. That is why this debate is so important and why we have to bring this issue back onto the radar.

The absolute magnitude of the problem will be found in the statistics. Almost half a million people suffer from asthma and 60% of these do not have it under control. I would not have believed that until we got our documentation and read it. That is why it is important that we are getting the documentation from the Asthma Society of Ireland and also from the Senators who are promoting the motion here this evening. It is more telling, as in any health issue, when one knows someone who has asthma and sees how they suffer. We are told, and I believe it to be true, that asthma does not have to be life-threatening or life-limiting. That is what is important. Yet it is life-threatening and life-limiting. Why has this been allowed to happen? As has already been mentioned here today, if 50 people with asthma go to an emergency department every day, then we have a serious situation. As Senator Power has said, that is one person every 26 minutes. That statistic alone has to be a wake-up call for us. I believe that all intentions on these issues are correct, but there seems to be a piecemeal approach to the whole issue of asthma. We do not have a holistic approach, which is absolutely vital because of the cost of medicines. Asthma runs in families, so it may not be one, two, or three people in a family but a number of people. Unless we have a proper overall strategy, the terrible statistics that have been presented here today will not change in the very near future. We have had a huge debate on the cost of medicines in general over the past number of years and the Government has taken a step in the right direction to ensure that those costs are reduced. That is progress. Why has it not happened in this particular case? I am sure the Minister of State will be able to tell us why it is the case that 25% of people suffering from asthma travel outside the country to buy their medicines because they cannot afford to buy them at home. That statistic alone tells us that the medicines are available in other jurisdictions at a lesser price. The question arises, as it did on our debate on medicines in general, of how it is happening and why it is possible. I do not think we have any reason to disbelieve these statistics.

I have never seen people being over-aggressive in looking for their rights on this issue. Maybe that is part of the problem. Perhaps assertive is a more appropriate word than aggressive. I do not think they are aggressive, but they are suffering. That is important. The economic burden of asthma in Ireland is €500 million every year. We are told this could be reduced by two thirds. I believe that will be the case if we have an overall strategy. In today's debate we are all staying clear of partisanship and politics. It is not about that. It is about all of us trying to make some contribution to the way forward and towards a proper, focused, well thought-out, well monitored and well mentored strategy. That is what people suffering from asthma want. I praise the Asthma Society of Ireland for its fantastic work, not only for its publications or for giving us more information, but for the tenacity of the work it is doing and the way it sticks with it. If the people suffering believe they are not being listened to, we need to listen and respond.