With the General Election confirmed for November 29th, Epilepsy Ireland are using the opportunity to highlight our key advocacy priorities with leading candidates.
We are highlighting five key issues with candidates, which were highlighted to us as being the most pressing by people with epilepsy and their families as part of our recent advocacy survey. The key issues are as follows:
- Enhancing Epilepsy Services & Infrastructure nationally to improve access to specialist services and treatments for the 45,000 people living with epilepsy in Ireland.
- Expanding the HSE’s Chronic Disease Management Programme to include epilepsy, encouraging collaboration between people with epilepsy and their GPs and reducing pressure on specialist services.
- Developing a National Strategy to reduce the estimated 130 epilepsy-related deaths in Ireland and taking targeted action to save lives.
- Making Ireland’s schools seizure-safe for the 10,000 children with epilepsy of school going age by ensuring all teachers are trained in seizure first aid and epilepsy awareness as part of initial teacher training.
- Ensuring Ireland’s 2022 commitment to implementing the WHO Intersectoral Global Action Plan on Epilepsy and other Neurological conditions is met and a cross departmental taskforce is established to progress agreed targets.
We know that living with epilepsy in Ireland today does not equate to just these five key issues. However, we believe that we have proven that by focusing on a smaller number of key campaigns, that we can achieve significant progress for people with epilepsy and their families. This has been shown by recent successes such as the introduction of deferred Leaving Cert exams and the introduction of a new Free Travel scheme for those deemed medically unfit to drive for at least one year.
With candidates now knocking on doors across the county, we would appreciate any support that people with epilepsy and their families could give in helping to raise these campaigns with your local General Election candidates.
We have designed a poster that you can print and present to your local candidates as they call to your home – the flyer can be read and downloaded at the end of this article.
Alternatively, a draft template email to send to your local General Election candidate is also available to download at the end of this article. We would appreciate if you could forward any supportive replies received to our Advocacy & Communications Manager, Paddy McGeoghegan, by emailing pmcgeoghegan@epilepsy.ie.
Our recent successes in advocacy would not be possible without the support of our wider community in raising these issues with their local Oireachtas representatives, so we would greatly appreciate your continued support by raising these issues with your local candidates.
As polling day approaches, Epilepsy Ireland will be proactively contacting leading candidates and will be seeking a commitment that they work with us on progressing the issues above on the behalf of people with epilepsy within their constituencies and on the behalf of the 45,000 people living with epilepsy nationally. We are keeping a list of the supportive replies we have received, which you can read within the ‘Advocacy’ section of our website.
We would like to thank everyone in advance for their support for helping to raise these issues with their local candidates. We look forward to the 34th Dáil being elected and to achieving more positive policy changes for people with epilepsy and their families.
We would also like to wish all candidates, their families and supporters every best wish for the remainder of their campaigns.
Together, we can achieve a society where no person’s life is limited by epilepsy.
If you need any support or advice around your or your family member’s journey with epilepsy, do not hesitate to get in touch with your local Community Resource Officer. You can find their details by visiting the 'Our Local Services' section of our website.