Disease Management
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-05
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Malcolm Byrne (FF), Wicklow-Wexford

I am somebody who has haemochromatosis. I was very lucky about ten years ago that I had the diagnosis. I was simply feeling fatigued. It was a general checkup and I was lucky that my GP decided to check my iron levels. It is a perfectly manageable disease, as Deputy Daly has pointed out, and I am very fortunate that I can have a venesection in my local GP's surgery. The challenge, particularly among men, who perhaps do not go to the doctors as regularly as they should, is that there is not the level of awareness. When somebody leaves this condition undiagnosed and as the condition develops, the risk particularly of arthritis or other diseases grows. I ask that there would be a national awareness-raising campaign because of the disease's prevalence in Ireland. As has been said, given that potentially one in 83 adults carries the genes for haemochromatosis, the more awareness about this, the better.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-05/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:44+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-05