John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

It has been a long day, politically. I will be glad to see the back of it. I thank the Minister of State for her efforts in ensuring funds have been returned to people who were under threat of losing money from their home care packages. The protection of the home help budget has been a major achievement by our side of the House today. I believe the children of County Roscommon are not getting the same treatment as the children of every other county in the country. For the last four years, no occupational therapist has been available to assist those who need to avail of the child and adolescent mental health service. Although those of us in the HSE west are in the same common bond, to put it in credit union terms, people in Roscommon cannot avail of the services of an occupational therapist who might work out of Galway or Mayo. It just cannot be done. In other areas of the health system, it is possible for those with certain specialties to cross county boundaries and assist where needed. A person working for the HSE in Roscommon could get a job in Mayo, and vice versa, if that was happening for promotional purposes. Somebody in Galway could get a promotion in Roscommon. There would be no border issues in such circumstances.

The community occupational therapist who is employed by the health service in Roscommon does not feel qualified to deal with most severe or acute cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, in particular. I know from talking to those involved that cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder takes up a great deal of their time. I am not sure whether the Minister of State saw the recent edition of "Prime Time" that dealt with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I sympathise with any family that has to deal with this problem, which has been downplayed by some psychologists for many years. Some of them do not recognise it as an ailment. Those who have to live with it are living in hell.

When are we going to have an occupational therapist in situin County Roscommon, as this is long overdue?