Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I asked the Minister what his plan was for these children and for Kylie Ann? I used Kylie Ann as an example but we could name many other children. She has been waiting for five years. The curvature of her spine is 138°. If it increases by a further 10°, it will be inoperable. During this five-year period, the Minister, Deputy Harris, has been in Government, including as Minister for Health. Over two years ago, his successor, the current Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, made a commitment, just as the Minister did seven years ago on the basis of a plan, that by the end of that year, nobody would be waiting more than four months. It still has not happened. Kylie Ann and many others like her are not waiting for four months or even four years; some of them have been waiting longer than that. I will ask the question again. What is the plan for these individuals? The Minister, Deputy Harris, spoke of money being invested. The Minister for Health, standing where the Minister is now standing, said he was carrying out an audit because he did not even know if all the money he allocated went to scoliosis treatment. That was two years after he announced that allocation and on the day we brought forward a Private Members' motion because the issue is not receiving the attention it needs.

The reason I have put this into the life experience of the child is that we have to be children centred here. What is the Government going to do? For the last seven years the Minister, has been in this Government, including as Minister for Health when he made this commitment, which is drastically failing these children. It is simply not good enough.

See this speech in context