John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)

The Minister of State did not have a chance to finish his response. I had not planned to contribute but I will give an example from Waterford. A man with three children came into my clinic. One of his children has Down's syndrome. He had initiated the process of adopting a child in Russia, who also has Down's syndrome. How long do we expect this process to take? The child in Russia is now four years of age and the issue is early intervention. The longer this goes on, the less chance the intervention he is planning will be successful. It is important that this is expedited and that the Government makes this a priority.

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