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

I welcome that. We need to make sure that people in distress are relieved and that a system that works is created. However, we will have to address the underlying issue, particularly in north County Louth, that there just are not enough people working as home carers at the minute and people cannot get the hours they need to keep their loved ones in home settings. This would provide some level of reprieve, however.

I brought up another issue. We all welcome the likes of Louth County Hospital. There will be a lot less pressure on our accident and emergency department system if we can have more community beds, more community services and more day services. I am talking about the diabetes clinics and so on and making sure they are resourced. There is, however, an issue with orthodontic care. I think we have in Louth County Hospital, in Dundalk, only one orthodontic consultant, and while people, including kids, who are in, I think, category 4, are being seen, the more serious category 5a cases are not being dealt with at the moment. We have a huge waiting list. It will need to be looked at. There is an issue even with computers and laptops that have been lying in Dublin for that particular setting. We need to make sure that is dealt with. Staff are still using older Windows 7 systems in Louth County Hospital. We know the problems we have had with IT and the HSE in recent times, so that is a matter we need to address. First and foremost, however, is the difficulty of kids with severe problems not being able to get the orthodontic care they need. The fact is that can lead to huge surgical interventions being needed later in life.

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