Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----meeting people who have concerns. There is nothing more important than him examining the issue of speech and language deficits in the county on his next visit, which will not be too far in the future.

The younger somebody who needs speech and language therapy obtains access to the service, the more influential it will be on their lives. The huge waiting list in County Louth in unacceptable. A total of 284 people are on the list and they have been assessed as needing this provision. They have been waiting less than a year but the number of the waiting list post-assessment in the adjoining county, Meath, some of which is in my constituency, is 27. There is a significant difference in the service provision in counties Louth and Meath. This is shocking, discriminatory and entirely unacceptable. I do not blame the Minister but rather the HSE, which does not examine these issues in the detail it ought to. For example, nine new speech therapists have been appointed to both counties, six of whom will be deployed in County Meath, which has the shortest waiting list. This is shocking and disgraceful and I ask the Minister of State to intervene and to act urgently on this matter.

I wish to draw attention to another waiting list.

The number of adults deemed to have intellectual disabilities who are on the waiting list for speech and language therapy in County Louth is 400. They have no service. They have no dedicated speech therapist. That is compared with County Meath where there are five people with intellectual disability aged over 18 awaiting speech and language therapy. I am not pitting one county against another but whether one lives in Mornington in County Meath outside Drogheda or Monasterboice on the other side of Drogheda, one should not have to wait on a geographical basis. A person should get the service because he or she needs it. The people in Louth need it now. I urge the Minister of State to address that huge, unacceptable deficit. I understand from speaking to Inclusion Ireland that it is a huge issue nationally. We need to increase very significantly the number of speech and language therapists nationally. I await the Minister of State's reply on the matter.

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