Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share my time with Deputy Robert Troy.

I put on record my party's appreciation of Deputy Adams for tabling this important motion on Private Members' business. This issue has been discussed in the House on a number of occasions and we will be glad to support the motion. The health committee is considering the issue simultaneously and some of the Members who will contribute are attending the committee. It will be worth people's while to stay for the full debate.

The ongoing Happy New Ear campaign has continued for a very simple reason. Empirical evidence exists to show that if they have a bilateral cochlear implant affected children can reach a fuller potential; that is why parents are campaigning on this issue. The longer it takes to implement the programme to be put in place in Beaumont Hospital, the more children there will be who will not be able to reach their full potential. The key issue is time. We must ensure there is a rapid move to address the situation of children who have been given a single cochlear implant, especially those who are reaching the time when a sequential cochlear implant will no longer be beneficial. Time is of the essence. Whatever resources are made available, I urge that there be an acknowledgement that an assessment of those who immediately need such an implant must be done so that we do not allow them to slip into a life in which they are not able to hear as well as they might if they had received the second cochlear implant in good time. For all these reasons, this is an urgent issue.

The Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, announced last week that a proposal was being developed by the HSE in conjunction with Beaumont Hospital to roll out this plan. Capital funding is required, along with funding for extra staff and resources, to put the plan in place. I would be slow to congratulate or condemn anybody in this regard, but the reason the motion was tabled is that it is urgent. As we speak, the HSE is drafting its national service plan for 2014. If this programme is not included in that plan within the coming weeks, we will be back in this Chamber again next year and a cohort of children will not have been given the opportunity to reach and maximise their full potential. We talk about cherishing children equally, about universal entitlement and about ensuring that those who are vulnerable are supported. Here is a cohort of people for whom we could do a very great deal with small resources in the overall context of the benefit this procedure would have on their quality of life for the rest of their lives. Time is significant and this is very important.

Some 200 children would benefit from such a programme. Their parents have campaigned in a dignified manner throughout. They are the ones who know full well that evidence exists, nationally and internationally, to show that those children who receive simultaneous cochlear implants develop more quickly and to a fuller potential than those who receive a single implant. Beaumont Hospital has done tremendous work and its new consultant in this area is promoting this plan. We in this House must be honest, however, and point out that good sentiments, support and nice words must be aided with finance. Things are scarce and it is a difficult time, but we cannot deny these children the fundamental right to which they are entitled. We must urgently press for action.

The Sinn Féin motion proposed by Deputy Adams is exceptionally timely. We met the group Happy New Ear in an all-party approach and have been in contact with the HSE. I raised the matter in a Topical Issue debate in June. The business plan is to be submitted to the national service plan of the HSE, but that has to happen in the coming weeks. That is the reason this motion must be supported on all sides of the House and why there must be a meaningful input on the part of the Department and the HSE in terms of resourcing the plan. I urge the Minister to take this on board. I know there has been strong commitment verbally, with tacit support on the Government side for the programme, but it is critical that we do not deny and delay further the implementation of a bilateral cochlear implant programme. We must then immediately start to provide sequential implants, as there are children coming to the age at which it will no longer be of benefit to them to have a second implant - it will be too late for them when they reach the age of five, six or seven years. It must be terrible for parents to watch time slip away and see their child not being able to develop to his or her fullest potential as he or she is entitled to under every basic tenet of decency we advocate in this House when we talk about giving everybody the opportunity to develop their full potential.

I commend and endorse the motion. We were very glad to support it when Deputy Adams asked us to put our names to it. That is an unusual departure, but as a political party we were delighted to do this. I urge the Government to come forward quickly with a commitment to write this programme into the service plan for 2013. When we met the parents involved and the Happy New Ear people they were very understanding about the financial difficulties for the Government.

The group accepted that nothing could be done in 2013 because the service plan had already been drafted and that it must wait until 2014. The members of the group were willing to wait until 2014, knowing that the longer they wait the less impact the implants would have on some children. That is an indication of the dignified approach of the group on the issue. Such dignity should be reciprocated with a financial commitment to ensure that at the very least those who are coming to a certain stage in their childhood development would get a second cochlear implant to allow them to reach their full potential. I commend the motion and urge the Government to insist that next year’s service plan make provision for bilateral cochlear implants and the full roll-out of the Beaumont audiology service.

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