John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for taking the slot today. Having listened to his speech and read page 2 of his script, I noted paragraphs 3 to 7 are quite chilling and alarming. The affected parents already have knowledge of several of these matters. Reading the script coldly, I found what it referred to truly shocking. More questions will be asked about this matter and more statements will be made about it. When colleagues in my party and I had been raising the issue of scoliosis with the Minister, we regarded the announcement some time ago that no child would be waiting for treatment for longer than four months as good news.

Like some of my constituency colleagues, I received an email today from a constituent called Ruth. She has a child who required surgery but who had it abroad,

maybe because of some of the advice her family received based on Irish consultants' perception of the urgency of the surgery. Ruth has asked Deputies, includingDeputy Paul Murphy and me, a number of questions. Deputy Paul Murphy has already spoken and I was very taken with his contribution. Ruth has eight points she wants to make that I believe are very valid, particularly regarding the children on the waiting list whose parents fear they will have to wait even longer as a result of what has happened and the pausing of some surgeries. She has several suggestions that I would like to put on the record, one being to bring international surgeons in to help with complex cases because of children being left waiting too long and another being to hire more surgeons to complete the more straightforward surgeries, if there are such things - in other words, the "50-plus degrees" cases, as Ruth calls them. She refers to a bracing centre for early intervention for younger children; surgery hubs across the country; the making available of physiotherapy and counselling for children who have to undergo surgery; the hiring of more theatre staff, because staff availability is often a reason for the cancelling of surgeries; transparency on lists; and answers to questions – I am sure they will keep coming – about who knew about the devices that were purchased. With regard to who knew, it is hard to believe it was just the surgeon, or just one person. The Minister has gone a long way towards dealing with this through his appointment of a professional, highly esteemed surgeon to conduct another review into what has happened. A truly alarming picture has been painted by the Minister, particularly on page 2 of his script for today.

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