Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for granting me the opportunity to discuss this matter during the Adjournment debate this evening. I welcome the Minister of State with responsibility for children and young people, Deputy Barry Andrews, to the House.

It is a matter of desperation that I bring this matter before the House. I have never previously raised a health issue on the Adjournment debate. It is a sign of the significance of the issue that I have done so this evening. Cian O'Brien is a four year old child. He will be five in a couple of weeks time. He was born with cerebral palsy and developed severe epilepsy when he was two. The epilepsy was controlled by medication until March of this year. Since then his epilepsy has become worse and he has been in Cork University Hospital since May. The team of doctors and nurses that has looked after him has been doing a remarkable job and his family is extraordinarily grateful. They know that without the team's work, the child would have died.

Cian has intractable epilepsy. He is under the care of Ms Olivia O'Mahony, consultant neurologist at Cork University Hospital, who has tried every medication to try to control Cian's seizures. These seizures can occur up to 400 times per day. After numerous ECGs, MRI scans and other tests in Cork and the children's hospital in Temple Street, it was decided that Cian needed life saving brain surgery. His family were advised at the start of August that the operation would take place in Beaumont Hospital within the first two weeks of September. They were told a team of 21 medical staff would be involved in the operation. The operation would involve a radical procedure being carried out which involved splitting his brain.

On 1 September, Cian's consultant neurologist was contacted by the team in Beaumont to say that it was ready to "go" but did not have a paediatric anaesthetist and that contact would be made again when one was secured. The consultant neurologist at this stage suggested that the family try to have the operation carried out in Great Ormond Street in London, but they were advised that this would take too long and that the HSE would instead carry out the operation in Beaumont. On Friday, 18 September, Cian's family were advised by their consultant that Beaumont had been in contact to say again that it could not get a paediatric anaesthetist and therefore cannot do the operation.

I have just one question for the Minister. When will this child have his operation?

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