Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and her colleagues very much for being here today. It is very good to have them. Neurorehabilitation, both pediatric and adult inpatient and community, is an area that requires a great deal of investment and service development. I urge the Minister of State to look at a service that originated in the US and has recently set up in London. That service is the Neurological and Physical Abilitation Centre. It offers intensive rehabilitation to children with neurological and developmental disabilities and the outcomes can be far-reaching and very significant. There has been a long-identified need for a second National Rehabilitation Hospital outside Dublin. I have been told the current wait times for the NRH are between six and 18 months and we know timely rehabilitation following a traumatic brain-injury is critically important. Does the Government have a position on this potential project and on the need for it? Are there plans to develop our inpatient neurorehabilitation services, both pediatric and adult, that the Minister of State could speak to today?