Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

The motion tabled today by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil is a move cynically designed to intercept and shut down a prospective motion of no confidence in the Tánaiste, Simon Harris, to shield him from being held to account for his litany of failures, but primarily his profound failure of children with scoliosis and spina bifida. The pace with which the Government moved to protect Simon Harris today stands in very marked contrast to the constant delay that is the hallmark of his failure of some of the most vulnerable in our society. The making and breaking of promises has come to define his time in office as Minister for Health, as Taoiseach and now as Tánaiste. His broken promises have caused deep hurt, pain and anger for many people and have damaged lives in the most serious way.

It is important to say that the call for a motion of no confidence in Simon Harris and the call for him to resign did not originate here in the Dáil. Those calls came directly from a groundswell of public anger that grew throughout the weeks of late summer, conveyed in protests and marches following the harrowing death of nine-year-old Harvey Morrison Sherratt, who suffered from scoliosis and spina bifida. These calls for justice were supported by Harvey's heartbroken parents, Gillian and Stephen. There is nothing toxic or cynical in their calls for accountability and justice. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Their heartache, hurt and anger can be traced back and connected to the promise made by the Tánaiste in 2017 when, as Minister for Health, he promised that no child would wait more than four months for spinal surgery. What that promise meant to those children and their families should never be underestimated. They took Simon Harris at this word. They believed they were finally being listened to and that the Government would finally provide the resources needed to end their children's suffering and to give them the chance at life to which they were entitled.

Sadly, over the past eight years that promise has been broken over and over again. Children have been left to wait in agony, their conditions deteriorating by the day as they are denied the operations that could change their lives and, indeed, might save their lives.

Year by year, Teachta Harris's promise came to be seen for what it was: something that sounded good on radio, good for the moment. The anger surrounding the Tánaiste's broken promise has only been aggravated by his attempt to pass the buck to HSE officials. For his words, for his empty promise and for giving these children and their families false hope, the Tánaiste is the only person responsible. He was not a commentator and not even a backbench TD; he was the Minister for Health making a serious commitment. Therefore, the buck stops with him, and with him only.

Harvey Morrison Sherratt was born the year Simon Harris was appointed Minister for Health. In 2017, when Harvey was just one year old, his parents were told his ribs were crushing his lungs. That was the same year the Tánaiste made his infamous promise. While waiting years for the operation he desperately needed, Harvey's spinal curve deteriorated from 75 degrees to 130 degrees. His dad, Stephen, said, "We watched him deteriorate, cry in pain, struggle to breathe and lose the sparkle in his eye." Speaking on "The Late Late Show" last month, his mum, Gillian, said:

Knowing ... that he was only going to live to nine [years], knowing that he spent the ... [guts of] three years in pain on a wait list, feels incredibly unjust.

If Harvey had had the timely access to healthcare, I feel like he wouldn't have missed so much of his childhood.

We would have more memories as a family, more happy memories as a family, and not so many negative memories.

[I]t robbed him of a large portion of his childhood, and ... that's incredibly unfair.

These are the words of parents who have lost about as much as you can lose in life.

In September of last year in the Dáil, I raised with Simon Harris Harvey's worsening condition, the need for urgent surgery and the fact that he had been silently removed from the waiting list without his parents' knowledge. Simon Harris promised to meet the parents urgently, yet it took more than a year to fulfil that promise. By that time, sadly, Harvey had passed away. Harvey's parents would be the first to tell you he is not the only child who has suffered as a result of the Government's failure children.

Over recent years, I have had the privilege of getting to know quite well a lad from Tullamore by the name of T.J. Coughlan. Some Members might know T.J. He is an amazing young man, he is smart, positive and full of optimism, and he is great craic. He is just a real lover of life. Having been born with spina bifida, T.J. was diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of nine. He was told he needed an operation to correct the curve in his spine. He was left to wait years without surgery and waited so long that he became inoperable at the age of 13. He is now confined to a wheelchair. The curve in his back remains, causing him pain and difficulty breathing. This courageous young man has been robbed of the life he deserved. His big appeal is that this should never happen to another child.

Yesterday, as has been noted, the Oireachtas audiovisual room was packed to capacity with TDs, Seanadóirí and the Minister for Health herself. We all heard parents speak of the pain, trauma and suffering of their children with scoliosis and spina bifida, children who have been waiting in agony for their operations and children who waited for so long that they became inoperable. We heard from parents racked with worry that their child might die waiting for the care and surgery they need. It is a case of stolen childhood, broken lives, damaged futures – a catalogue of human hurt and anger that stems from a most profound betrayal, a promise broken, by the Tánaiste.

Today, 225 children are waiting for their operations. The promise is being broken in real time again today. The lifeline of access to surgery abroad has proven to be a dead end for most children. The promise of a public inquiry into the care of spina bifida and scoliosis patients by Children's Health Ireland must be fulfilled. It is essential now that the Government move heaven and earth to get every child the surgery they need, because Simon Harris's broken promise must not steal from those children what it has already stolen from so many others.

Of course, the backdrop to this catastrophic failure of children is the ongoing fiasco surrounding the national children's hospital. When he was Minister for Health, Simon Harris signed the contract for this project, something he very bizarrely denied during general election campaign debates last year, which was a brazen attempt to distance himself from responsibility. The opening of the hospital has been delayed time and again and billions of euro in public money have been spent, yet not one child has been treated to this day.

Broken promises cut more deeply when broken by somebody with the power to make a difference. If the Tánaiste can break such a profound promise to children in such desperate need of surgery, it should come as no surprise that he can so readily break his promises on issues like the cost of living, giving ordinary workers a break in their income tax, abolishing student fees and delivering affordable childcare. Those big election promises were all broken in last week's budget, a budget in which the Government bragged, as it has done again today, about its billions of euro but still managed to leave working people worse off.

Arrogance and a sense of entitlement are the bedrock upon which the Government was formed – the foundation stone of a grubby deal struck by Deputies Simon Harris, Micheál Martin and Michael Lowry, a deal all about holding on to power at all costs, protecting the positions of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and feathering the nests of those at the top. Delivering for children with scoliosis and spina bifida was not even on the radar when they were brokering that deal. They tabled this motion today simply because they did not want a vote of no confidence in the Fine Gael leader landing in the same week as the presidential election. That is actually their priority, and we all know it.

Let it be said that in that election people will have the opportunity to vote for values that stand in marked contrast to broken promises and grubby deals, the proven currency of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in government. It is a currency, of course, with which Fine Gael's presidential candidate, former Deputy, Heather Humphreys, is fully comfortable. She was fully aware of the promise Simon Harris made to children with scoliosis and spina bifida and of the devastation caused to families when that promise was repeatedly broken, yet she backed him to the hilt.

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