Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for facilitating this debate with the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar.

I wish to take up a point made by Deputy Jim Daly about there being an optimistic note. He referred to the comment made by Mr. Kiely on the life-changing consequences of the surgery involved. I was at an under-16s football match last weekend when one of the star performers was a young man who three years ago was in exactly the same position as the two girls referred to. This life-changing surgery has enabled him to be a full and active participant in sport, etc.

I imagine Deputy Jim Daly will agree that this is not a plea to have these two individual patients plucked from the list and ask the Minister to look after our constituents. I understand there are approximately 120 on the waiting list. It is not the longest in the world, but it is a critical one. It is painful for parents to have to watch their children stoop because of scoliosis and wonder whether they will undergo surgery in time or whether there will be long-term consequences for the health and well-being of their children as a result of the delay.

The time is opportune because the HSE is preparing service plans for 2015. Deputy Jim Daly has alluded to the fact that Mr. Kiely has written to his colleagues in Cork and said he is prepared to travel to Cork if he can access theatre space and recuperation facilities, in particular, intensive care unit beds. That is one of the critical issues involved.

The waiting list is probably the consequence of the lack of investment for too long in paediatric medicine in the children's hospital. Obviously, we are making progress in this regard, but we need an interim solution. The 120 children involved, including the two young girls referred to by Deputy Jim Daly, Jessica O'Flynn and Aoife Murray, represent the manifestation of the problem in our constituencies. We are familiar with both cases, but I know of others in my constituency. I appeal, therefore, to the Minister. The surgery involved could substantially improve the lives of these young children for the better. They can participate fully in sport and all other activities following successful completion of the surgery. I, therefore, call on the Minister and the HSE in the context of its service plan for 2015 to try to ensure we will have a more efficient system for performing this critical surgery.

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