Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this extremely important debate on what is, as my colleague has just outlined, such a time sensitive issue. I am happy to support the motion and I compliment Sinn Féin on introducing it and ensuring there is a cross-party debate. I compliment the families involved in the Happy New Ear campaign who have ensured this item has been kept on the political agenda. The issue came to my attention last year while out knocking on doors in Mullingar. I met Lorraine Murphy of the Happy New Ear campaign who explained articulately to me the issue that affects her daughter and many other children in the country. She said that in April the implant her four year old daughter Anna had received two years previously failed and she was left in silence for five weeks, during which she was confused, frustrated and upset. If she had had two implants she would have had a backup. More important, there was a chance that following the re-implant she would have to learn her sounds from scratch again. The family did not know until after the operation whether that would be the case. The possibility was that every word Anna had learned to understand after many hours of work could be lost following the failure of the implant, which caused great anxiety and worry to the family. Luckily, that was not the case and Anna quickly remembered all her sounds. There would not have been any need for such concern if two implants had been inserted on day one.

The families are to be commended. They lobbied Deputies across all political parties and, at my request, appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children. To be fair to the Minister, he met with a delegation, at which point he gave hope that the issue would be addressed as part of budget 2014 and included in the service plan. My colleague, Deputy Kelleher, outlined how understanding the group has been. It acknowledged that the Minister could not deal with the issue midway through 2013. I am at a loss to understand why the Government has tabled an amendment to the Private Members' motion, instead of accepting it, making the resources available and outlining a clear and definitive timeframe for the implementation of a new cochlear implant policy. All international evidence suggests that children who are profoundly deaf have a considerable advantage if they receive two cochlear implants instead of one.

I wish to read into the record the benefits of bilateral implants as outlined in research carried out by St. Louis Children's Hospital, one of the premier children's hospitals in the world.

Listening with two ears: This is an important listening mode which makes it easier for speech from both sides of the head to be heard and processed by the brain.

Hearing in noise: Hearing with two ears allows us the remarkable ability to “tune in” to someone we are trying to hear and understand when we are surrounded by background noise, which is usually the sound of other people talking!

Localization: Hearing with two ears is essential for humans and animals in identifying the direction of sounds. The ability to localize sounds has obvious safety implications for a child or adult in that he/she could hear someone calling out a warning or being able to tell from which direction a car is coming while crossing the street.

Binaural hearing offers more natural, balanced sound and can improve the “ease of listening” in the same way that vision in both eyes eases and improves the ability to see. When there is hearing only in one ear, there are many challenging situations that can be frustrating. This frustration often leads to eventual social isolation, resulting in a poorer quality of life. Research study subjects using bilateral hearing aids typically report sound to be clearer, fuller, more natural, and more balanced.

I accept that the times are economically difficult and targets must be achieved. Speakers on the Government side of the House blame my party for the financial constraints while in the same breath they talk about new politics and working together to bring about positive and favourable solutions for the people who gave them the honour of representing them in this House.

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