Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join with the Deputy in acknowledging the ruling from the High Court in Belfast issued earlier today by Mr. Justice Colton. It is a long ruling of approximately 200 pages but it seems positive from the perspective of the Irish Government, which wants to work to ensure that all families get justice, which is what they deserve. Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs are in close contact with organisations assisting the plaintiffs in this case. Many families in Northern Ireland stand to be impacted by the legacy Act and they will be studying today's judgment carefully. I have no doubt there will be an opportunity to provide an update on that in due course.

I thank the Deputy for raising an extraordinarily important issue that everybody in this House and in this country wants to see resolved. He referenced Kylie Ann and he is right; nobody in this House can imagine the pain that she and her family are going through. When I was Minister for Health, I met many families whose children were awaiting scoliosis procedures. I remember them; I remember their names and their faces. I know something of what they were going through, although none of us can fully imagine it. As a result, I decided to place an unrelenting focus on reducing scoliosis waiting times in 2017.

The Deputy is correct; the HSE told me and mentioned in its strategic corporate plan that it wanted to reach a point at which no child was waiting longer than four months and to bring scoliosis surgery waiting times in line with those under the National Health Service in the UK. With hand on heart, I can say that, as a result of that commitment, we saw very significant progress in achieving that target. The Deputy does not have to take my word for it, although I am sure he would not. However, I am sure he will accept the word of the Ombudsman for Children. A report published by that ombudsman has shown that, by the end of 2017, the number of children waiting longer than four months was down to 29. The report also states that the ombudsman met with many people and that, in meetings with the Department of Health, the children's hospital group, consultants, hospital staff and management and myself, he noted an absolute commitment from all involved to addressing this matter in the best interests of children. People worked tirelessly and we saw waiting times reduce very significantly. We opened an additional theatre in Crumlin and hired additional theatre nurses. Many more surgeries were carried out in those years than had been carried out before and many children got access to life-transforming surgeries. All of that is true.

The Deputy referenced the pandemic. He again does not need to take my word in that regard. An article from the Irish Examinerof 8 September 2020 mentioned that the closure of theatres and reduction of certain health services during the pandemic had a real impact and led to progress reversing. As a result, we have seen the health service working night and day to try to build on that progress. My successor, the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, is extraordinarily committed to getting where we need to get to and to getting this thing back on track because the Deputy is right; we are not talking about numbers but about real children and no one wants to see them suffering.

It is important for parents to know that there are extra theatres opened and additional theatre staff in place. Some €19 million has been allocated and that funding has done real tangible things. It has resulted in an additional 193 staff working in the health service. These are doctors, nurses and radiographers working on spinal surgery in Cappagh, Crumlin and Temple Street. As the Minister for Health told the House last week, another wave of capacity is now due to come onstream. There is another theatre due to open in Temple Street and another MRI scanner due to open in Crumlin, along with 24 additional beds. From memory, I know that beds are a core component of the delivery of these surgeries. I believe 20 of these are already open.

The Deputy raised two specific questions. One related to the issue of a task force. The Government and I believe that is a sensible suggestion. A task force will be established and it will include all stakeholders, including patient representatives and clinicians, whose inclusion is also important. The Minister for Health met with a number of advocacy groups last week to discuss the terms of reference for that task force and patient advocates were very clear about what they want that task force to do. In collaboration with the advocacy groups, work is now progressing on addressing the terms of reference. The task force will have an independent chair and, contrary to some of the misinformation that is out there, it will not report to Children's Health Ireland.

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