Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

The Deputy's objective is clear here. Rather than be distracted by attempts at point scoring, this Government is determined to get on with the real work oif delivering an inquiry into scoliosis and spina bifida care that will finally give families and, most importantly, children the answers and improvements that they so rightly deserve.

I want to take this opportunity, along with so many others in this House, to offer my sincerest condolences to Gillian and Stephen, the parents of Harvey Morrison Sherratt, on their unimaginable loss. None of us can truly imagine what they are going through but what I can say, as has been said by so many colleagues, is that we are absolutely committed to do better. We must do better for Harvey, for his parents and for so many other children.

We have heard that the Tánaiste and the Minister for Health met Harvey's parents, Gillian and Stephen, and other parent advocates on 29 September and together they have agreed to work in partnership on the structure of that inquiry. I know, and I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, and the Tánaiste and others, that they will continue to engage with Harvey's parents and, indeed, with many others on further meetings.

No one in this Chamber has a monopoly on compassion. It is important to say that because every one of us - we have heard it eloquently from my colleague - cares deeply about the work that we do. We have been elected by those who have voted for us and those who have not in our constituency and our job is to come in here and to make the lives of those around us better to improve our communities.

The politics that I see coming out of this particular motion, let us be clear, is about dividing this Chamber. It is about dividing communities. What is even worse is that this type of politics is about dehumanising and personalising these types of issues and political point scoring on something that is so difficult for so many families. It is much easier to create a division but it is much harder to form a consensus and to make things better. Forming a consensus is what we are focused on doing here.

The number of children waiting more than a year on spinal surgery has dropped. There are more theatre sessions. There are more surgeons. There are more procedures happening than ever before. It is not enough but it is progress. It is delivery and we will do much more.

My colleague Simon Harris has shown significant leadership as Taoiseach and now as Tánaiste. We have seen real leadership and delivery, not only at home but abroad. He recognised the State of Palestine within a month of taking office as Taoiseach, showing absolute leadership at home but abroad as well. He apologised to the Stardust families after 42 long, difficult and painful years of waiting. He continues to defend Ireland's interests globally, as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Defence. As Minister for Health, he established the all-party Sláintecare committee. He led the implementation of this report. He expanded access to medical and GP visit cards for children with disabilities. He introduced State-funded IVF. As Minister for further and higher education, he reformed our apprenticeship system and he worked to establish new technological universities across our country. As Minister for Justice, he introduced legislation to increase penalties for assaults against emergency workers, ensuring stronger protections for those who serve the public.

More broadly, for those who think this Government is done, we have only started. This was the first budget of five. We cannot remind people enough of that. We are focused on making sure that we provide real opportunities for families in every part of this country and we started by making sure we increase carer's supports, increasing supports for people with disabilities, building more homes than at any point in the past decade and ensuring we have regional balanced development. All of this has been done with the support of our Tánaiste, somebody that I and all of us are proud to work with.

Politics is about making a difference. It is about showing up. It is about working together. It is about improving lives, not scoring points, which is what Deputy Tóibín is trying to do here.

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