Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was contacted this morning by a family in mid-Kerry who are desperately seeking help for their child to fulfil its potential, but the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, clinic has been closed. In the past fortnight, I have been contacted by therapists and families from all over the county, families using the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, whose hurt because of the bad treatment they received has been exacerbated by a refusal to help fund their cases. A family in the Tralee area was told via an answer to a parliamentary question that the current waiting time for an autism assessment is 30 months from the date the referral was received. A family needs paediatric occupational therapy, OT, services where the waiting lists in west Kerry and Tralee and in south Kerry have 206 children and 286 children, respectively, on them. I was contacted by a physiotherapist in the Killarney area who told me there has not been any physiotherapist in Kenmare since May 2023. The Killarney service has stopped taking on patients because its waiting list has 600 people and the semi-urgent list is taking 28 weeks when it should take six. It seems as though the Government does not care and that the whole county is underfunded. When will the Government stop neglecting therapists in County Kerry?

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