Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

Any disease or condition a person, especially a young person, is living with is very difficult. It is difficult for the parents and siblings too because when somebody is ill in the house, everybody is involved. This is the right way. At the same time, though, Crohn's disease is very debilitating and very difficult for a young person to manage. They do not want to have to battle for things such as a medical card. The Department will always welcome any submissions it gets. All the correspondence that comes into the Department is looked at. If the Senator would like to see if the people she mentioned would like to write in, we can 100% facilitate that. I will speak to the Minister about this issue, because, as I said, even the wording I was quoting in my first contribution - regarding the 1975 Act - is no longer appropriate.