Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)

I also welcome the visitors in the Gallery. The HSE has stated that the assessments of need for 15,292 children are overdue, meaning they have gone past the legal timeframe of six months. Legally this should be completed within a six-month period. A total of 13,002 have been waiting for more than nine months and 418 of these are in counties Laois and Offaly. This is totally unacceptable. The cohort affected are missing out on essential interventions at a crucial point in their development. Within the past week, the HSE chief, Bernard Gloster, stated that it is going to get worse before it gets better. HSE sources indicate it could hit 25,000 by the end of the year. Last year, the HSE sought tenders for private clinicians to help reduce the waiting list, but some clinicians have stated they have been waiting eight or nine months to get approved due to bureaucracy and red tape within the HSE.

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