Healthcare Policy
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-17
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Mary Butler (FF), Waterford

I welcome Deputy Conor D. McGuinness and his guests from Waterford to the Visitors Gallery of the Seanad.
Senator Cosgrove makes a valid point. When we talk about expanding the chronic disease management programme, there are many issues that have to be addressed. We understand why including chronic diseases like kidney disease at stages 4 and 5 would take precedence over some other conditions. I give the Senator a commitment that I will talk to the Minister’s officials about the GLA:D programme. The Senator is right that we have learned a lot about how to deal with individual conditions. A lot of walks are now taken in the Portlaw Woods on the softer ground as opposed to the hard ground of the roads. We have learned a lot about that. I thank the Senator for raising this issue. There are 500,000 people in Ireland with a diagnosis of osteoarthritis, so it merits discussion. I will take that back.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-17