Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will provide an example. There is no maternity cover at all for speech and language teachers. That affects a sensitive group of people who require speech and language therapy as part of their treatment. A teacher dropping out for six months, or less than six months, while no cover whatsoever is provided results in the child's general behaviour taking a downturn. That is not fair to the child or the parents. It frustrates and annoys parents. It appears to be a simple issue to resolve. It would certainly not cost billions and it should be dealt with.

I recently met a constituent whose child has scoliosis. When that issue was highlighted on television a couple of years ago, we thought that it was going to be resolved very quickly. It was not as if 2 million patients were affected; it was a particular cohort. Delivery of services for that cohort should be the responsibility of a particular group within the health service.

Who is responsible for failing to deliver in those two specific areas? Dealing with these issues would not undermine the integrity of the general delivery of health services.