Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is nothing personal but I am afraid the prepared reply given to the Minister of State is insufficient in the extreme. It was I who arranged the meeting with the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee. In fact, it was to be with the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris but it had to be cancelled at short notice as a result of the demands of the leadership campaign that was under way within Fine Gael at the time. It was only when I demanded that alternative arrangements be made that then Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, Deputy McEntee, stepped in to listen to the concerns. As I said, very little happened on the back of it.

I will refer to a couple of things the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, said. He indicated that rheumatology continues to be the most rapidly-growing service within Our Lady's Hospital. That absolutely is not the case. It might have the most rapidly-growing demand but, with two consultants there, we are not expanding the service. We need to aspire to having six consultants in place. The Minister of State mentioned that a third consultant may be considered under the Estimates process. We need to push the bar higher. Six are required. Last month and, again, this month, people who are in the system and going for follow-up appointments have had scheduled appointments cancelled and put back until an unknown date in 2018. These are growing children with, as I said, skeletal deformities and they continue to be obliged to take these biological agents that have very bad side-effects.

The Minister of State mentioned the new children's hospital. For God's sake, when will that be built? We really do not know. The project is ten years in the making so far. These sick children will be adults by the time it is built and the effects of not being seen in a timely fashion will have crystallised, so that is not acceptable.

The Minister of State indicated that a hub-and-spoke is the way forward. I agree. At present, however, we do not have a hub. How can we even dream to have a spoke without the optimum number of consultants and nursing staff in place?

Finally, and this was really insulting, whoever wrote the Minister of State's reply did not realise that the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and I are from the north west. The outreach services are to be provided in Cork, Galway and Limerick. The north west has been forgotten yet again. Sometimes I feel that central government feels that the north west voted to leave the European Union and, indeed, the Republic of Ireland because, yet again and as usual, that corner of the country, which comprises 30% of our landmass and which has a population of 300,000, has been cast aside. That is not acceptable.

The Minister of State indicates that he can assure me that the Government is aware of the challenges. We are all aware of the challenges. The stones on the road are aware of the challenges. When will we embrace some of the solutions that I am putting forward?

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