On World MS Day Wednesday 31st May, MS Ireland will be holding an event in Leinster House. We will be launching a new report on MS and Quality of Life and we will be using the opportunity to call on TDs and Senators to take action on Ireland’s under-resourced neurology services and rehabilitation services. This will include a briefing in the Leinster House AV room at 10 am.
We need your help in contacting TDs and Senators to ask them to come along to the event – if you can attend your local TD’s clinic, please bring the event to their attention and ask them to go along. You can also email them – you can find who your local TD is and get their contact details using this website: https://www.whoismytd.com/
Below is a draft email that you can use – please feel free to adapt the email to include information on your own personal situation and what their support would mean to you.
If you receive a response from your TD saying they intend to go along, please let our Information, Advocacy and Research Officer Harriet know so she can follow up with their office to remind them beforehand – email harrietd@ms-society.ie or phone (01) 678 1600.
**Please note that unfortunately we are very limited on the numbers of people we can bring into Leinster House, so this event is invitation only. However if you wish to show support on the day Wednesday 31st May, you are welcome to come along for photos at 10:30 am outside Leinster House gates and coffee in Buswells Hotel afterwards**
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Dear Deputy….
I live in your constituency and I am one of the 9,000 people in Ireland who has multiple sclerosis (MS). You should have recently received an invitation from the office of Senator Jerry Buttimer, asking you to attend an AV room briefing on World MS Day, Wednesday 31st May, at 10am. This briefing will be delivered by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland (MS Ireland) and Novartis. There will also be an opportunity to meet representatives from the organisations and people with MS in the Leinster House coffee dock beforehand, from 9 am.
I would like to ask you to show your support to me and the thousands of others like me by attending this event. A new report on MS and quality of life will be launched and MS Ireland will be highlighting some of the problems that people with MS in Ireland face including:
- Long waiting times to see neurologists
- Long waiting times to access MRI scanning
- Lack of supports in the community such as neurorehabilitation services and home care
- Difficulties retaining employment
I would be very grateful if you could take the time to go along to learn about the issues and the potential solutions that MS Ireland are proposing.
Yours sincerely,