Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that the Government is not opposing this comprehensive motion that deals with one of the most pressing health and child development issues facing the country. I welcome the presence of the Minister and Minister of State for the duration of the debate and the frankness and directness of the Minister of State in responding. There is not a single Deputy in this House who has not struggled with the most difficult and harrowing cases of children whose life chances are ebbing away for want of a timely professional assessment of needs and, when that unbelievably high hurdle is finally overcome, adequate and appropriate therapies to allow them to learn and reach their full potential. Parents know the clock is ticking for their precious children. Each passing day and week compounds the children's difficulties and causes unbelievable stress and anguish for the parents. We all know that. We have seen it first hand, as the Minister of State correctly stated. We must solve at least the first part of that problem now. If the public system cannot cope - as is clearly the case - the motion calls for the immediate provision of financial support to parents and caregivers who have no option at present other than to resort to private assessment. As we stated, this can be done by direct reimbursement or through the national treatment purchase fund, NTPF. The Minister of State has made a high commitment, that if it is not done, she will bring it to budget. I hope that Ministers responsible for the budget hear that and that it is done. It absolutely has to be done.

I recognise the second hurdle is difficult to resolve. The establishment of children's disability network teams, CDNTs, has been a wonderful initiative. In each constituency, those teams dealing with children is a marvellous initiative or it would be if the teams existed. However, they do not. The problem is finding the specialised staff required. The list of children waiting for appointments for therapy is simply shocking. There is no other word for it. We are all in touch daily with the administrators of those teams trying to find therapists. Each of the local teams is desperately dealing with waiting lists and trying to recruit. In some instances, the pressure of work is driving out the specialists we have. The situation is actually getting worse because of the stress and pressure those who are working on the teams are under because of a lack of a comprehensive plan for a fully recruited team. We must resolve this recruitment issue and at the same time radically increase the training places and courses for the next generation of specialists.

Let us plan for that now by radically increasing the number of people we are training. We need to take a fundamental look at professional training and registration. We need to remarkably increase the numbers. That is a simple fact. We must remove the barriers to maximising training of those who are needed and to the recruitment of specialists abroad. I will give two brief examples. We have a chronic shortage of nurses and yet nurses who trained and qualified in Queen's University Belfast, no longer have an automatic entitlement to registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board. I asked a parliamentary question about the issue and was told it is because of Brexit. Those who are trained must go through another series of hoops while Australia is knocking on their doors with all kinds of inducements. We must fix those problems.

I spoke to a dentist last week. We have a chronic shortage of dentists. On recruiting foreign EU dentists, he said that he as an Irish born dentist would not pass the language test to be a dentist in Ireland. Let us resolve those issues and get the specialists we need. I hope this motion will not be just another in the series of three we tabled. Legislation has also be referenced by others. I hope this will be a cathartic day. From what the Minister of State has said, I hope it will be and that there is real hope for those families in desperate need who right now feel that they are crying in the wilderness and are left to deal with their unimaginable burdens alone while they are unanswered by the State.

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