Question from Deputy Michael Cahill - PQ 50548-26

To ask the Minister for Health further to multiple previous requests, to consider developing a Lyme disease specific department in University Hospital Kerry, for the detection, treatment and research of this debilitating condition (as testing methods currently being carried out in Ireland are perceived to be not accurate, with the majority of suspect Irish Lyme disease patients travelling annually to Germany and elsewhere for more advanced diagnostic tests and specialised treatments); and if she will make a statement on the matter.