Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, in the context of all of these issues, there is always an element of Groundhog Day. That is something we need to address. We cannot continue having these same conversations.

I want to start with the response to parliamentary question I received in the past while. It stated that there were no occupational therapists in paediatric services at the HSE primary care centre in Barrack Street, Dundalk, with four vacant posts to be recruited and one maternity leave vacancy. There had been a failure to fill vacant posts via agency recruitment, but there will be a recruitment competition alongside three other CHOs to fill senior vacancies. It will be late autumn before any successful applicants are appointed. What we are talking about is 659 children on the waiting list for primary care, occupational therapy or paediatric assessment. Some 382 of those children have been on the list more than a year. The average waiting time is circa three years.

We can pick multiple issues. I am dealing with a nine-year-old boy with global development delay, which involves mental and physical issues. His father has been told recently that for occupational therapy and speech and language therapy, he could be waiting another eight to 12 months for an appointment. He was initially with the early intervention team in the Boyne Business Park in Drogheda until he was six, and then he was moved to the children's team in Dundalk. He got access to services until October 2019. While I accept that Covid created difficulties, he has not got any face-to-face speech and language therapy in the interim. An occupational therapist has visited since we became involved but, obviously, that is not sufficient to cut the mustard, given the circumstances. We are also dealing with a man with an autistic four-year-old who is not toilet trained and cannot get a place in a school. There are major issues involved here.

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