Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

It is time to update Deputy Brian Cowen's famous one-liner. When in doubt, pay it out — as long as the money makes it look like the Government is actually doing something. Never mind the reality. Enjoy the ad. campaign for €35 million.

Deputy Brian Cowen knows well 4,000 children in the Dublin area are waiting on speech and language therapy. The State has gone through the process of training speech and language therapists, yet there are no jobs for many of them who have graduated. Deputy Brian Cowen is aware that for children with Down's syndrome, to take one example, speech and language therapy must happen early in their lives or their potential is forever damaged and diminished.

The programme for Government promises that any child under five years waiting more than three months for occupational or speech and language therapy will access these services automatically through the National Treatment Purchase Fund. It is not happening. It is a disgrace that adds to the anxieties of their parents. Radical change in Government should be about addressing this.

If spending €35 million on vanity advertising were in a novel, no one would believe it. Neither would anyone believe that a Minister for Education and Science would spend millions of euro on legal fees to deny to children education which should be their right.

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