Aubrey McCarthy (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I raise the matter of Lyme disease. This month is Lyme disease awareness month. For those who do not know, it is a bacterial infection that can be caused by tick bites. Interestingly, this week there was a protest outside the gates of Leinster House by people who have been affected by Lyme disease. I have had fascinating conversations. It is a disease on which I was not too informed. I met one lady, Anne, who was incapacitated for the past 30 years after getting a bite on a beach many years ago. While I was discussing this with fellow Senators, one of them brought up the point that a person in his own industry, a dynamic individual, received a bite when he was jogging in the Phoenix Park and is now incapacitated too. It is a very serious disease and is something that can affect every one of us.

One thing I learned from talking to the Lyme disease protestors was that it is preventable and curable if caught in the early stages. It is essential that our Minister for Health and the Department invest in early detection kits. There is a new, Covid-type test that is helped by AI, is meant to be very dynamic and comes from Switzerland. One of the ladies outside the gate had taken medical tests with her own tests in Ireland for eight years and was cleared of Lyme disease. She then went to Switzerland and the test showed she had Lyme disease and it was too late to do anything about it. I am asking for investment in tests that will produce the proper results. A total of 5% of ticks in Ireland carry the Lyme disease bacteria. We need to be Lyme-aware and invest in proper testing.