John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This week is National Arthritis Week. Yesterday, I met councillors in Castlebar, County Mayo, and I also met a young woman originally from Mayo who has arthritis. As a child, she was told that she had growing pains. During her teens, her diagnosis was changed to juvenile arthritis. Her story is a microcosm of the national situation. She went to Dublin to complete her studies. She had a good career and worked for herself but was unable to continue to so do because of her condition and related matters. She could not continue to live in Dublin while not working because of high rents and other matters. She is now back home in Mayo and very involved in the national organisation Arthritis Ireland. She and her colleagues have just returned from a conference in Prague organised by the European League Against Rheumatism.

I wish to focus on the area of musculoskeletal disorders, including arthritis, which are a leading cause of temporary unemployment. Some 14 million days are lost each year in Ireland due to absence and ill-health in the workforce. Approximately half of them are attributed to this group of disorders at a cost of €750 million annually and 7 million days in absenteeism. There is also a social cost. The young woman to whom I referred is very much the right side of 40 and is wondering how she will be able to work or contribute. She is doing magnificent work nationally and locally with Arthritis Ireland, which is fighting very hard to get extra rheumatology support in Mayo.

I wish to draw attention to this issue and to ask the Leader to request that the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, come to the House and update us on the comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities. It is a ten-year programme launched in October 2015. As we are now one third of the way through it, it would be timely for the House to be updated on it.