Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)

I also pay tribute to the outstanding staff in the Oireachtas, with a special mention for the excellent broadcast workers here, 13 of whom will be laid off over the summer due to the precarious and unfair nature of their contracts.

Almost one year ago to the day, my party leader, Deputy Holly Cairns, raised the issue of more than 5,000 young people waiting for primary care psychology services in the Cork-Kerry region. Of this group, 109 had been waiting for between four and five years. The Tánaiste responded to Deputy Cairns by saying that there seemed to be a particular challenge in the region that he did not believe was replicated nationally. A year later, it is clear from figures I have extracted with great difficulty from the HSE that the primary care crisis is not only national, but it is also across disciplines. We have children waiting up to seven years for physiotherapy in Cork, up to six years for speech and language therapy in Dublin, up to nine and a half years for occupational therapy in Dublin, up to nine and half years for psychology in Galway and, incredibly, up to 13 and a half years for psychology in Dublin. Astonishingly, during Leaders' Questions this week, the Taoiseach denied that there had been any recruitment embargo in primary care services. Does the Tánaiste accept that he was misled by the HSE about the crisis in primary care this time last year? Does he agree that the Taoiseach distorted the reality of recruitment restrictions on primary care this week in the Dáil? Will he now commit to an urgent recruitment drive to address these out-of-control waiting lists?

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