Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. An area of concern in dealing with the waiting lists is the lack of resources and the infrastructure or supports not being in place. When we see that a consultant resigned and took up a post outside the country nearly three years ago and this position has not been filled, I believe we could all accept that this situation is not good enough. One must query the commitment to the process and the seriousness of dealing with these unacceptable waiting times and waiting lists. A waiting time of 18 months is borderline but three and four years is completely unacceptable for people to wait for much-needed prescribed treatment. These are not recommendations by me or others. These are made by consultants who are trained and qualified in this area. They recommend these treatments be carried out under the heading "urgent".

I am concerned that the Minister of State in her reply did not give definite timelines or commitments as to when these waiting lists will be reduced. When will the three or four cases that I have with me today be adequately and fully dealt with? It is very important for these families and for the people involved. We need to get real commitments. I am quite happy to give details of these cases to the Minister of State after this engagement, if she wishes, to try to have the cases prioritised, because the wait is not at all good enough. I accept there is the National Treatment Purchase Fund. Are we going to say that the fund should deal with these lists? Are the people in my constituency who have been waiting three or four years going to be dealt with in the next couple of months? That is what they need to hear. I hope the Minister of State can come back to me with real commitments and timelines to give these people some hope.

Before I conclude, if the Leas-Cheann Comhairle could indulge me for a moment, today has been a very poor day in my constituency of Kildare North. I know this topic is not related to my Topical Issue matter but there are around 500 job losses.

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