Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the initiative for children. The Minister of State is right. That will free up capacity within the system for adults. I acknowledge those people with more urgent cases are seen more urgently than in December 2026, without that length of a waiting line. It is actually very difficult to track that because when you ask the HSE for what is the average waiting times for audiology services are, it tells us the system it uses will not allow it to calculate the average waiting times. It is very difficult to back up what the HSE is telling us in terms of the prioritisation of more serious cases and overall improvements.

I accept the bona fides of the Minister for Health on this to progress the matter and to put in place the waiting list working group and the management of audiology services. I welcome the initiative for children and the impact that will have. I hope that means that Christopher in Whitehall will get his appointment sooner than December 2026. If I pass the details of the case onto the Minister of State, he might be able to pass them to the Minister for Health, who might be able to intervene in this matter. This is a very serious case. I raise it on behalf of one constituent but there are, of course, many more. Chime Ireland tells us it wants to see a waiting list initiative specifically for audiology services. In this case, it is in regard to Grangegorman which is a great new primary care centre that serves much of the northside of Dublin. However, there are other centres around the country that also need waiting list initiatives. I appreciate the Minister of State's intervention on it.

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