I was recently contacted by a woman who is suffering awfully from Lyme disease. At this time of year, there are far more ticks and so on in the woods. She wants to know if the Government will work to increase awareness of ticks, bites from ticks and so on, what to do if it happens and how to prevent it. Tick Talk Ireland has done great work in that regard and the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, HPSC, has also done some work. This disease can be very dangerous.

I thank Deputy Stanton for raising this matter. As he points out, a tick bite can cause Lyme disease, which can be a very severe illness. People are probably not as aware as they might be about the risks. I will check with the HSE but I believe some work is under way involving the HSE and the National Parks and Wildlife Service to make people aware of the risks.