Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 26 April 2023

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Further Revised)

Photo of Pádraig O'SullivanPádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State's earlier comment that anybody who is aware of any sites or buildings should bring them to her attention. I am aware of a few in Cork but I will pass the details on later.

I have one more question. I was not going to raise this matter but I will because it has come up. I refer to paediatric services for people who require neurological rehabilitation. The Minister of State has met one particular family in Cork. I will give people an idea of their lives. The child suffered an acquired brain injury and lost the ability to speak and walk. The child has had to relearn and retrain all of those faculties. The family send me videos via WhatsApp when they are lucky enough to be sent to Dún Laoghaire for rehabilitation and you can see the child walk, talk and smile again. The Minister of State has worked on delivering paediatric neurological services for Cork over the last few months. I understand an announcement was made in last year's budget but nothing has happened on the ground yet as far as I am aware. Where are we with that? People from the south are coming all the way to Dublin. They are having to present at accident and emergency departments to get referrals to go to Dublin in the first place. I just do not understand it. I cannot fathom it and do not understand why there is not an outreach clinic of some description further south. I understand that is part of the plan. Will the Minister of State explain where we are in that regard?

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