Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. Yes, the education situation has improved over the last two and a half decades. I accept that. We have more to do there but we were starting from zero where we had nothing. However, in the HSE overall, there is a great problem between budget and services. No one will dispute that a considerable budget is going in. Certainly, I will not argue with it. There is a problem at the other end when we see what comes out in terms of services. There is a fog in the middle. Where does the money go? There is a question mark around that. It is the same with these therapies.

When the Minister for Finance was deputising for the Taoiseach here a few weeks ago, he told me that the Taoiseach was chairing a Cabinet subcommittee on this. I would say three small things to the Taoiseach. First, he needs to expand the number of training courses in speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychology and therapy assistants and dietetics. Second, he needs to recruit people for full-time positions and retain them in the services. Third, the Taoiseach mentioned the gaps in services. The gap is 100% in those therapies in networks 11 and 12. Someone needs to look at this. This should not be the case. There are no services in some of those therapies in Laois.

See this speech in context