The Asthma Society came into formal existence in 1973 following a meeting organised by Órán O Muire, a teacher who had struggled with asthma from an early age, and who was determined that asthma would not stop him leading an active life.
The Asthma Society came into formal existence in 1973 following a meeting organised by Órán O Muire, a teacher who had struggled with asthma from an early age, and who was determined that asthma would not stop him leading an active life.
Órán and some supporters organised a public meeting in a Dublin hotel. The only advance publicity was a photocopied letter to a couple of dozen people and a Letter to the Editor in the daily newspapers but by the time the meeting was ready to start, the room was full to the brim.
This group helped raise public and political awareness of asthma and offered the first support service to people in Ireland affected by this chronic condition. They established a medical committee of experts to address the patient information gap and provide the first Asthma Society leaflets and started the Asthma Adviceline in 1982. The Society was concerned with the cost of medication and campaigned for the implementation of the Drug Cost Subsidisation Scheme (DCS) in the 1980's.
During the 40 years since the Asthma Society was founded it has developed into the national charity for asthma in Ireland and there have been significant developments in the fight against asthma. However there is still much to be achieved in a country with the 4th highest prevalence of asthma in the world and where we still see 1 person die every week from this condition.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to stop asthma deaths in Ireland.
We are the voice of the 380,000 people with asthma in Ireland, and our work radically transforms their quality of life.
OUR VISION
Our vision is that everyone with asthma in Ireland lives a full life, symptom-free.
