Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will raise the case of Michael Barry with the Minister of State. Michael, who is ten years old, has been prescribed a new wheelchair by the HSE. He desperately needs it, particularly coming into the summer months when he should be able to get out and about with his family and friends and enjoy the good weather. I have seen a letter that was sent to Michael's mother. Michael was given a prescription on 5 May. The HSE advised that the resource allocation group only funds a certain number of prescriptions every time it meets and there was no timeline given for when Michael would get his wheelchair. How is this acceptable? A prescription should be funded. It is given on the basis of a person's need. There is no reason given for this decision. Once his prescription is funded, Michael will get his wheelchair but it will need to be ordered, which will take time. Michael deserves to enjoy the summer with his family and to live in comfort. He needs to get his new wheelchair.

I am disappointed that the Minister of State with responsibility for disability, Deputy Rabbitte, is not here to take this Topical Issue debate. She comes into the House an awful lot talking about how funding is not an issue and telling us what she wants to do. That sounds great and ambitious but she is failing Michael. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, to ask her to instruct the funding allocation group to fund all prescriptions that come before it at every meeting.

The Government is saying money is not the problem. In fact, it is the problem because these prescriptions are not being funded when they are needed.

Every summer since I became a Deputy, families have contacted me about issues with their children accessing equipment. Last year, there was a situation in which a child who was waiting for a wheelchair could not go on a school trip because there was no wheelchair available that was suitable and big enough for the child. No child should miss trips away with his or her school or family in such circumstances. It is a scandal that children and families are being left in this position. The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, come in here and say funding is not an issue when it comes to providing services and equipment to people with disabilities. Here we have a child who has a prescription to get a new wheelchair because he is too big for his existing one. The provision of the equipment is being dictated by budgets, not by medical need.

Surely the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, agrees with me that a child should not have to wait for an essential piece of equipment. That is what a wheelchair is. Michael should not be expected to crush himself into a wheelchair that is too small. This is a child with serious health issues and a serious disability. The State is failing Michael. I met and spoke to him and his mother and father at the weekend. Why should they be in this position? Will the Minister of State go back to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and ask her to instruct the HSE that funding be given for Michael and for any child or person with a disability who has a prescription for equipment that is urgently needed, whether it is a wheelchair or anything else, and they will not be left waiting for weeks and months? Will he give that commitment today?

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