Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh beirt aíonna sa Ghailearaí a tháinig isteach sa Teach inniu, Helena O'Donnell ón Irish Heart Foundation agus aoi speisialta eile, Martin Quinn. Chas mé leis an Uasal Quinn cúpla bliain ó shin. I welcome two guests to the Gallery, Helena O'Donnell from the Irish Heart Foundation, and Martin Quinn, whom I met a couple of years ago when I spoke at a Tipperary Peace Convention event. Every year it has a conference on peace issues where it gives an international award to incredibly well known people internationally. There have been some very distinguished recipients. Mr. Quinn inspired me initially by how the peace conference was organised. This morning he told us his story of dealing with stroke. He told us he was doing a radio interview to announce that Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai, was to be awarded the Tipperary peace award and he could not speak during the interview. He told us how he found out gradually that he was having a stroke. He told us about his determination to overcome the challenge, his speech impediment and his situation to be able to present the award to Malala when she came to the award ceremony in Tipperary later that year. It is an incredible story. He is a man of great determination.

He told us about the frustrations he had in dealing with the health system at the time and the lack of services available to people who suffer stroke. He has asked all of us as elected representatives to do what we can in the Houses to raise awareness of the issue and particularly of the FAST campaign. FAST stands for "face", "arms", "speech" and "time to call" and it aims to make people aware of the symptoms of stroke.

The stroke manifesto launched by the Irish Heart Foundation has also been brought to our attention. It outlines the effects of the inadequate services. It wants to make stroke services available, particularly for younger stroke patients because it can happen to people at any age. It also outlines the crucial role a stroke nurse can play in a hospital so they need to be available. It mentions supports in the community for people.

It is important that there is a debate in this House with the Minister for Health on stroke care in Ireland and the number of people who are affected. Over 7,000 people will be hospitalised as a result of stroke in Ireland this year and at least 1,800 will die. One in every six of these lives could be saved through acute service improvements. It is accepted it would not only reduce mortality but cut health service costs.

Half of stroke patients in Ireland do not receive their treatment in stroke units. There are a lot of very practical issues faced by people. People like Martin Quinn, who has come through an amazing challenge and is now a wonderful advocate on behalf of stroke sufferers, are shining a light on this area and asking us, as their elected representatives, to do what we can to raise the issues, have these types of debates and implement the policy changes that are needed.