David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It was very uplifting to have met so many children today, some of whom are still here in the Public Gallery. They travelled from the four corners of Ireland to be outside the Dáil and meet with politicians of all political parties to make the plea that we do more. All those children want is a fair start in life. What they want is equal access to healthcare and an equal shot at life as best they can. They want us, as legislators and politicians, to provide the healthcare resources and capacity they need.

It is also very distressing because many of those children have been waiting in pain for care for far too long. While on the one hand it is uplifting to see their courage and tenacity, it is also distressing to see the frustration and anger of so many of those children and, of course, their parents.

The Minister said that what is happening here is "inhumane". That is an understatement and we have said this time and again. This is where the real frustration comes. Time and again, we have debates such as this where we all come in and say that this inhumane and then things do not change. Seven years ago, as was said a number of times, Simon Harris made a commitment that no child should wait longer than four months. I have not seen - bar a Minister who has come in for a different debate - anybody from his party in the Chamber for this debate. Be that as it may, he made that commitment on the back of a plan. It was echoed again and restated by the current Minister for Health two years ago.

The Minister has come into the Dáil today, two years after he committed €19 million, which he told us, and he was told, would reduce to zero the waiting lists of children waiting no longer than four months. That did not happen. Two years have passed and there is no accountability. Astoundingly, the Minister has told us he cannot give a guarantee that all of the €19 million that was meant to be spent to reduce the waiting lists for those children was spent for the purposes for which it was intended. He said he will get auditors to look at it. This is just absolutely ridiculous. He did not mention to any degree at all the task force which needs to be set up. He made a passing reference to it. He made a reference to it in his amendment but of course he will vote down the motion we crafted with all the groups as best we could. We sat down with parents and advocates and asked what the task force should look like. The best selling point for that task force is what the Minister has said tonight. We have committed €19 million. It was meant to fix the problem, but it did not. The money was not spent in all areas for which it was intended. Two years on, the Minister for Health does not know what happened, or where it all went wrong. He told us, as he left the Chamber to go to meet the HSE board, that he will raise it with the chair. He is the Minister for Health. This is absolutely incredible.

I put it to the Minister and the Minister of State who are here that I am absolutely sick and tired of coming to this Chamber, as other people are, and having to raise this issue on behalf of these beautiful children, of whom there are so many across the State. We have to go back and face them and say the Minister is not going to accept the motion, but instead is telling us about all the great work he has done. He has spoken about figures, but they are not even the real ones because he has given us figures from the end of last year and not the current figures for February. It is absolutely disgraceful. We have a Minister for Health who is asleep at the wheel on this issue. In conclusion, I ask the Minister to show some respect to these children because they deserve better.

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