Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Thank you very much. It is refreshing to hear your passion while advocating for the patients who you represent and for your colleagues.

Everyone tells us scoliosis will not fix itself. As elective representatives, we have received some really disturbing letters from families outlining the trauma they are going through in relation to their children and the challenges they have been facing. One family told me the preliminary diagnosis for their child happened when it was still in the womb. They say the years between three and ten are supposed to be the best for response to scoliosis.

You were performing surgery yesterday. Will you talk us through what is actually involved? I know there are three types of scoliosis: idiopathic, congenital and neuromuscular. Apparently, we do not know what causes idiopathic scoliosis. It can be congenital and it can run in families. The main thing parents want to know is when their child will be seen, how they get that preliminary assessment and how long it will take after that assessment for them to get treatment. I suppose it the same with children who are on different spectrums, where families are waiting up to two years to get an assessment.

In the current situation, how long does it take? Will you talk us through what it is like going through the surgery and what you have to do? Also, will you comment on the challenges you, as a surgeon, faced during the cyber attack and what your colleagues went through in relation to that?