Rónán Mullen (Independent)

We have often had debate in the House on the health service and will, no doubt, have one again soon. I would like to raise the issue of how we treat children with Down's syndrome and their families. I spoke to a parent recently who was advised by the school her child attends that the child is at a critical stage and would benefit from speech therapy. When the parents inquired about speech therapy from the HSE, they were told there was nothing that could be done for them and were referred to a clinic which referred them back to the HSE. The parents have been given to understand that their child does not fall into the specific category of disability which would entitle the child to assistance.

We need a debate that will include whether children with Down's syndrome and similar children should be rated top priority when it comes to how we dispense our health budget, whether arbitrary categorisations are being made by our health authorities and whether these categorisations do an injustice to some families. This is a time sensitive issue in the situation I mentioned and if the parents are to get private speech therapy for their child, it will cost them over €5,000 per year. Are such people to be looked after by the system? We need to address that question in our debate.