Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Let me come to that. She does not address how she is going to engage the 375 extra clinicians that the HSE says we need to clear that waiting list for assessment of need. There is not a word about that. Nor do we hear, as Deputy Boyd Barrett pointed out there, about the 110,000 children waiting for therapies. There is a 30% overall void in the number of therapists available. The Minister of State did not tell us about how she is going to do that, nor did she tell us about how she is going to increase the spaces in university to train new therapists for the future. That is in our motion. All of these things are about having an immediate plan to get the 375 extra clinicians in, an immediate plan to increase the therapy places in university and an immediate plan to employ therapists and retain them. Look at their work, pay and conditions. Can they access housing? Why are they leaving jobs? If we can recruit them, how can we hold onto them? That is the plan we need to see, otherwise it is lip service.

I know the Government is not going to oppose this. It has not tabled an amendment, so there will be no vote on this and no controversy. Who could vote against this? You would be out of your skull to vote against this, so the Government is not going to, but what is it going to do about it? What is it going to do about the chairperson's Bill that was passed and that is sitting waiting in some kind of laboratory for the committees to look at and will never be looked at? How is the Government going to deal with these things? We needed to hear about planning and delivery today, no more platitudes and stating how great it is that the Government has done this and this, or how it is going to announce 16 schools in October and is working with the Minister for Education. That is great and lovely but what we really need is a plan to deal with this as a matter of urgency. It is urgent because we come across people daily. I wrote to the Minister of State recently about one. She has had significant help since I wrote. She came to me when I was a young councillor looking for services for her child. He is now a big, strong man who beats her up. She needed respite and care for him. Now, she is getting it. Had she not been screaming and almost killed, with me screaming at the Minister of State, she would still be suffering. We need an urgent plan.

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