Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to speak on this urgent motion on the 200 children who need cochlear implants. I will be voting for it and supporting the children concerned and their families. The motion is about the health of the children but also about caring for their future. If one examines the details, one cannot sit on the fence. I urge the Government to consider the motion seriously and support the families in question.

International best practice in treating children who are profoundly deaf is to provide bilateral cochlear implants. Children in the State who are profoundly deaf are provided with only one implant. The absence of a second implant creates problems for the children in discerning speech in noisy environments. It is a race against time because the nerves to which implants are connected become more redundant every day and eventually die if they are not used. Unless implants are connected in the earlier years - that is, at the age of seven or eight years - it is accepted that the operation will be ineffective. That is the reality for the children concerned and their families.

For me, the provision of cochlear implants is a human rights issue. As said by a number of my colleagues, the estimated cost is in the region of €12.8 million. How dare the Government moan in the House about €12.8 million when it spent €14 million some Fridays ago on a referendum that nobody was really behind. The Government spent €14 million and now it cannot find €12.8 million.

The sterling work being done on this issue in Beaumont Hospital in my constituency is very important. Today I call on the Government to ensure the proposed business plan by the HSE and Beaumont Hospital to introduce a bilateral cochlear implant programme is contained in the budget for 2014 and part of the HSE Estimates process for 2014. The children who are profoundly deaf should receive the most effective care possible according to international best practice. I urge all Deputies to support the motion.

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