Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their contributions. Many of the topics I wanted to address have been covered, but there is one specific issue troubling me, that is, the public health nurse system and the incredible backlogs in that system as a result of Covid. In my CHO area there are up to 20,000 children who have not had their developmental checks. That is incredibly worrying. I cannot get an answer from the HSE on how it proposes to deal with that backlog.

Reference was made to our public health nurse system being a cradle to the grave system. How can we remedy this system and also address the backlog therein? What are the consequences of us not taking care of all of those children who are clearly missing out on developmental checks? My son is among those who have not been checked. That is what drew my attention to the issue. As I said, my son is awaiting his development check. He is not special; he is just one of the up to 20,000 children in CHO 8 awaiting a developmental check. There is only one CHO in the area.