Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I did not expect anything else and I am not saying that I doubt the bona fides of the Minister of State, but the answer is always the same. The answer is always just another network or it is a staffing issue, but we never seem to get to grips with the staffing issue in such a way that we would outsource it or consider critical skills permits. I have been saying this so repetitively on the floor of the House that even the Ceann Comhairle must be sick listening to me. An apology just does not cut it. As already stated, I do not doubt the Minister of State's bona fides but the apology will not buy the wheelchair or provide the wheelchair.

Next Wednesday, I am taking little Leo Dixon up here to the Dáil because he wants to sit in the Minister of State's seat and he wants to sit in the Minister's seat, given he is from Arklow, County Wicklow, in the Minister's constituency. While he is sitting in their seats, I very much hope that they will sit in his - a wheelchair not fit for purpose - for the eight hours a day that he sits in it, and then see how quickly he will get his wheelchair. Is it not a disgrace that an eight-year-old boy had surgery on his neck that has to be redone because he did not get the physiotherapy he was entitled to and because they had not provided a wheelchair that he should have had to assist him? What is wrong in this country that we have this total lack of services? It is beyond belief at this stage.

I spoke to families who held a rally outside Dáil Éireann last week. I met them in Wexford when they held a rally in Enniscorthy. There were some 30 families with placards stating that the HSE is letting their children down; there were lots of different placards but not one was positive, I can assure the House. The reality is that much of it is to do with the new CDNTs but this child has been suffering for nine years. He is going to be here next Wednesday. The Minister of State can use his two minutes to tell me when Leo will be getting his wheelchair. That is the question.

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