An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-18
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Tom Clonan (IND), University of Dublin

I raise again a case I have raised many times this year and in 2024, namely, that of Caitlin Hassan whose mum Louise Hassan has raised her case repeatedly here. Louise's daughter Caitlin was raped while in State-funded care as a vulnerable 27-year-old adult. Despite repeated attempts and pleas, no report has been furnished to Louise Hassan, her mother. Her daughter has been discharged from the service and is now at home, most of the time in the foetal position in their one-bedroom apartment. She is a single mother. This is a situation of absolute extremis. Louise Hassan tells me that the State-funded carer is now refusing to provide any support or care for her daughter simply because they raised the concern about a rape. This is in defiance of the instructions given by the CEO of the HSE, Bernard Gloster, to that service provider to provide the service. In the time we have left over Christmas and the new year, I prevail upon my colleagues to ask the Minister to intervene and give this young lady the supports she needs.
I also raise an issue brought to my attention by a journalist, Niamh Ní Hoireabhaird. She lives with Friedreich's ataxia, a progressive illness that leads to muscle deterioration and, sadly, premature death. It has been successfully treated by a drug called omaveloxolone. The brand name is Skyclarys. The National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics has decided that this should not be reimbursed. There are only 200 people in Ireland living with this condition. They are devastated by this decision of the NCPE. Ms Ní Hoireabhaird is asking, and I am asking, that the HSE ignore this unwise and ill-informed decision by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics and continue to reimburse Skyclarys for the sufferers of Friedrich's ataxia.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-18