Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)

We got word last night that the Dáil schedule was being ripped up, not to address any of the crises gripping the country or to enact some critical legislation, but to spare the Government's blushes and to try to prevent a spotlight being placed on the Government's shameful treatment of people with disabilities. Aontú signalled yesterday that it was going to put down a motion of no confidence in the Tánaiste next week and within hours, the wagons circled. The Government did not even wait for the text of Aontú's motion to be published because it was so terrified at the prospect of that debate. Instead, it cobbled together this motion and ripped up the Dáil schedule so it could tell the rest of us how well it is doing and how good the Government's record is when it comes to the treatment of children, the provision of disability services and, indeed, other issues, such as foreign affairs. It really is incredibly cynical. It is a political stroke to avoid legitimate criticism of its failure of children with disabilities and their families for years. This exercise in sheer cynicism will go on for two and a half hours. Is the Government so afraid of debate and scrutiny of its own record that it has to sink to the level of pre-empting a confidence motion that has not even been written yet?

At a time when this country has such major issues in disability services, housing, the cost of living, healthcare and climate action, it is incredible that the Government is choosing to spend its time this way. It speaks to a complete lack of confidence on the Government benches. It is an acknowledgement that the Government's record is simply not defensible. It also goes to show where the Government's priority lies, that is, with itself. It will drop everything and go to war, not to improve services for children with disabilities but to defend and shield itself from criticism.

The Irish Times was clear about the reason we are enduring this farce today. Its news pages, not opinion pages, stated today, "The Government is [expected] to force through a vote of confidence ... to defuse the risk of a debate on disabilities during [these weeks] ... of presidential campaigning." The Government parties are clearly horrified at the thought of a brake being applied to their negative campaigning and a focus being placed on the manner in which it is running the country and its appalling treatment of some of our most vulnerable citizens. It is no wonder if you look at the Government's record on disability, its failure to even acknowledge the cost of disability in the budget, the highest unemployment rate for disabled people in the EU and the failure to provide long-awaited justice to thalidomide survivors, who were promised a State apology and access to medical cards. That is not to mention children's disability network teams and personal assistance hours. I could go on and on.

The current Minister for Health was recently asked in this Chamber about the treatment of children waiting for spinal surgery. She said, "We are making some progress, but I acknowledge that it is too slow, and too many children are still waiting." That sounds benign and reasonable at first, until important context is provided. For that context, we can start in 2013, when Fine Gael had been in office for two years. Back then, 12 years ago, a report into services for children with spina bifida found major defects and a lack of co-ordination at a national and local level.

That report made recommendations for how services could be improved. Those recommendations were not implemented.

In 2017, a damning report from the Ombudsman for Children, Waiting for Scoliosis Treatment: A Children’s Rights Issue, was published. It raised "huge concerns about the serious and ongoing violations of the rights of children waiting for scoliosis treatment". It concluded that there was "an onus on us all to act and for the Government to fully and meaningfully address all of the issues raised." In response, the then Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, promised no child with scoliosis would wait for longer than four months for surgery. That promise was never kept.

In 2023, the Ombudsman for Children published the Ivy report into the care of a child with scoliosis by CHI. Ivy had been waiting for spinal surgery for scoliosis for five years, during which time the curve in her spine went from 30 degrees to over 135 degrees. The report detailed how the uncertainty surrounding Ivy's surgery impacted every aspect of her life, physically and mentally, and caused huge distress for her and her family. That report found numerous failures of governance and communications within CHI. In 2024, a follow-up to the Ivy report revealed that Ivy's surgery was delayed for so long that she was no longer operable. That report also noted that grave concerns have emerged around the safety of some children with scoliosis being treated within CHI.

This year alone, there have been three further damning reports into CHI. We have learned that non-medical grade springs were inserted into children without their parents' consent or knowledge. An independent audit revealed that nearly 80% of hip surgeries on children at Cappagh, and nearly 60% at Temple Street, were not clinically indicated. This means that potentially hundreds of children have undergone invasive and traumatic surgeries they may not have needed. A separate report into CHI raised huge concerns about a negative and toxic culture which impacted service delivery and staff experience and had the potential to put patients at risk.

It does not end there. We are currently waiting for the publication of further reports into CHI, including one on paediatric orthopaedic surgery. Can those on the Government benches now understand why families of children who rely on CHI for critical treatment have lost all trust in it, and in this Government, to address the dangerously threadbare disability services that it has responsibility for delivering?

We have a mountain of reports gathering dust on Government shelves, none of which have been acted on in any meaningful way with the result that generations of children are being failed. There have been repeated promises that waiting lists would be addressed and services would be improved. Those promises have been made for at least 12 years; it has never happened. Fine Gael has been in office throughout all of this, with Fianna Fáil propping them up since 2016 before entering coalition in 2020, yet neither party will take responsibility and are instead spending the whole afternoon in the Chamber praising themselves on the things they are doing.

Harvey Morrison Sherratt was just one year old when the Tánaiste made the promise that no child would wait for longer than four months for surgery. Instead of being cared for and treated quickly, his father Stephen said Harvey was "abandoned". He waited for years for surgery before finally getting it last November. By then, the curve on his spine had reached 130 degrees, crushing his rib cage and putting pressure on his lungs and heart. Harvey tragically died on 29 July. We do not know Harvey's cause of death but we know that he needlessly suffered. He endured years of pain and trauma that could have been avoided if he had just been given the healthcare he needed. What Harvey endured is not an aberration; it is the norm.

Today, as we speak, there are 226 children on the CHI's spinal surgery list; 135 of these children are actively waiting for surgeries but do not have a date. This is up from 108 since the start of the year. Of these, some 40 children have been waiting for six months or more.

The Minister, Deputy Harris, should never have made that promise back in 2017. I think he accepts that. There have been other health Ministers since Simon Harris who have also failed to keep promises on this issue. Last October, just before the election, the then Minister, Stephen Donnelly, vowed that the number of children waiting more than four months would fall to 20, in part he said because every child waiting for longer than four months for treatment would be offered treatment abroad. Twelve months on from this commitment, what has happened? Just eight children have been approved to travel.

We now have yet another Minister, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, who has vowed to get to grips with this crisis. I welcome her announcement that CHI will be folded back into the HSE by 2027 and that the Government will set up an inquiry into the care of children with spina bifida and scoliosis. That inquiry must be public and parents and advocacy groups must be centrally involved in setting the terms of reference.

While I welcome that, we have had report after report that have highlighted failings and issued recommendations but they have either been ignored or implementation has failed. The question must be asked: what is the Government doing today to ensure children with spina bifida and scoliosis are treated swiftly and appropriately? Given its abject record of failure, can we really rely on the Government to deliver the reform and change that is needed?

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