Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that this very severe case is genuine, and I acknowledge that the Senator has raised the matter and taken up this cause. This is a disability matter. I will mention this debate to the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, and inform her of the exchange.

I wish to be straight up about this. I do not think it should be the role of the Minister for Health or the Minister of State at the Department of Health to intervene in individual cases. Inevitably, when services are constrained and there are waiting lists, for a Minister to intervene on behalf of an individual means displacing somebody else. It means skipping a waiting list or it means using political influence to benefit one individual at the expense of another.