Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is a lovely list of the things the Minister might be doing in the future, but he failed to mention the 88 children whose targets have been missed. He gave a commitment on the four-month target but it has been missed in 88 cases. Some of those children have been waiting in pain for more than three years. They are not able to live a full life. They are in agony. What is the status of the scoliosis plan? It was due to be published but there is no sign of it. I appreciate that things may happen in the future but commitments were given in the immediate aftermath of the "Prime Time Investigates" programme and they have been broken. The families have been let down time and again. Some of the 88 children have been waiting for more than three years. That is unacceptable. Those children received an apology from the Minister and others in the immediate aftermath of the programme. It is not good enough just to say "sorry". They need to know when they will get their surgery. They also need an acknowledgement that the targets are being missed in a substantial number of cases. The parents in the Scoliosis Advocacy Network and in the other groups want honesty from the Minister and the HSE about when they can realistically expect to get treatment.

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