Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I note the publication yesterday of the Children's Rights Alliance score card, which shows an improved performance by the Government in its view, moving us from a D, a bare pass, to a C minus which I suppose is a bare honour and nothing to be celebrated. However, it is certainly encouraging that the Children's Rights Alliance believes the overall performance of the Government in the case of children is moving up rather than down the ranks.

In respect of child psychology services, the Government acknowledges that far too many children have to wait far too long to see a psychologist to get the help they need. For a parent, any wait, even a short one, causes great anxiety, while a long wait causes enormous anguish. It is for that reason that an extra €5 million has been invested in child psychology services and it is making a difference. If we look at the figures from July 2017, we will see that 6,850 children were waiting for psychology services. By the end of 2017, that number had fallen to 6,300. We are, therefore, seeing it move in the right direction. This has largely been done through the recruitment of 414 assistant psychologists because, as is often the case in health care services, the system was wrong. People were being referred straight to specialists-----

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