Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)

In her opening remarks, the Minister said her door was open to TDs to bring specific cases to her attention. I have engaged with her Department on, for example, the case of Mikey, who was so long on the waiting list that he aged out. The Department shut the door on me and said it was not its place to intervene with clinicians regarding the care of children. That is one problem.

Second, if we are honest, the Minister has for several months been stonewalling those asking questions on this issue. It has been 14 months since I raised the question of Harvey Morrison Sherratt’s removal from the waiting list. I asked how many other children have been removed from the list and the Minister told me she would answer that question soon.

She said in October that she would answer the question in November, but that question has not been answered as of yet. It is absolutely startling that information is still not available to people at this time. When will the Minister let the Dáil know what is happening in this regard? I asked why CHI has not published its 2024 annual report on its accounts and spending. I have also asked questions around the funds for surgeries for children abroad and why no one on that list at the moment is scheduled for operations abroad. In all the months that we have been talking about CHI, the situation is actually getting worse for so many families.

We in Aontú have difficulties regarding this inquiry and, first of all, how it refers to complex scoliosis. There is no definition of complex scoliosis in the document so far and we are worried that this is an attempt to water down the number of children who will form part of that inquiry. I am also disappointed that the statement announcing the inquiry was first seen by the advocacy groups of these children in the media.

How many children have been removed from CHI waiting lists without their parents’ knowledge? I will ask the question again: how many children like Harvey Morrison Sharrett were wrongly removed from the waiting list? How many children have died while awaiting surgery in this country? How many children have been removed from the waiting lists without surgery having aged out? Outside of the inquiry process, will the Minister commit to furnishing this House with that basic information and detail, which should be available at any stage to any TD who is asking a parliamentary question of the Minister? The Boston report said that one child went back for 33 surgeries but, because of CHI data, it looked like 33 children were operated on. There is a lot of confusion and a lack of transparency in relation to these figures. Given all that has happened here, the very least that the citizens of Ireland, elected representatives and these families themselves are entitled to is transparency.

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