Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Every day, there are people outside Leinster House seeking help and they have been feeling very helpless lately. I do not blame them because it seems nothing is being done for them.

Earlier today, I joined the Lyme disease awareness rally with Lyme disease sufferers, some of whom I know, their families and friends from every county in Ireland. They simply want to be heard on this horrific disease and are holding this rally to raise awareness of its symptoms and also the treatment and prevention available. They want Lyme disease to be recognised by the HSE. I have raised this issue before and I struggle with having to raise it here again because like the public, I feel unheard by the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris. It is time to debate this and ask the Minister why it cannot be recognised by the HSE so that people can get the help they need.

I will also be standing with farmers from Carlow who are here because we cannot deny that 2018 was a special kind of hell for the farmers, with almost biblical weather conditions from one season to the next, frost, snow, rain, floods and drought coupled with cattle prices falling. The livestock farmers are under immense income pressure and they are asking for help. They are seeking delivery of the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, proposal for the introduction of a target €200 suckler payment to save the struggling beef sector. Farmers have been left behind by this Government and they are feeling it more than ever this year.