Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Sure, I would like to think we could reflect seriously on this as the preparations for the economic statement of the Government and the preparation for budget 2018 begin. Of course, we spent many years trying to get agreement in respect of the National Maternity Hospital. It is now done and agreed. We have been 50 years talking about children's facilities. I am glad the decisions have been made in respect of the National Children's Hospital.

Deputy Thomas Byrne was perfectly entitled and right to raise the issue of the psychological services. As the Minister will reply, clearly the number of special classes has doubled since 2011, from 548 to 1,153. The number of resource teachers has increased by 41%, from 5,200 to over 7,500 now. In 2011, the number of SNAs was increased by a further 22%, from 10,500 to 13,115. These are very substantial improvements in the issues that surround children in that particular area.

The Deputy mentioned waiting lists, child and adolescent mental health services, homelessness and mental health. These are all serious issues. That is why, in respect of homelessness, there has been investment at an unprecedentedly large scale to make what we desire happen. Deputy Micheál Martin is only too well aware of the reasons for the collapse of the entire construction sector. No matter what we do, there still has to be supply to cater for numbers. In 2030 and beyond, we will have to provide a further 5,000 homes and there will be an increase in the population of 1 million. Where are they going to live and work and how are we going to transport them? Together, we can look at the bigger issues of this country given what happened in the shadows, in the limbo, even in my own years on this earth, which number slightly more than those of Deputy Micheál Martin. Clearly, these are issues that were in the shadows and limbo-land for years.

I commend Catherine Corless for her painstaking work, which has unveiled another sad legacy of the past in this country. I wish to deal with this and I hope that when the process has been completed with the coroner, the Garda, the local interests and the local authority the Oireachtas can focus, for once and for all, on dealing with these sad legacies of the past that unfortunately impinge on the sensitivities and personal lives of people through their tragedy and on the siblings who have had to bear with it.

See this speech in context