Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like many others, last night I watched "RTE Investigates: Living on the List" and was shocked and horrified by the programme's content. It is unbelievable that, in this day and age, people are left to suffer on hospital waiting lists to the extent that they contemplate suicide. Last night's programme unveiled that waiting lists may be significantly longer than those published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, with a pre-admit list comprising 23,000 patients and a pre-planned list of approximately 60,000 patients not included in the NTPF's monthly reports.

Last year, Deputy Kelleher of my party raised his concerns about waiting times for children suffering from scoliosis. I share his concern and believe that this situation highlights the need to get the new national children's hospital constructed without further delay. Obviously, there are concerns about costings, but these must be ironed out so that our children have an efficient and state-of-the-art facility to attend. They deserve nothing less. I have voiced my support numerous times for the national children's hospital, as it is a necessity in easing the waiting lists facing children with scoliosis and those suffering from other ailments.

The new orthopaedic unit has opened at Crumlin children's hospital. One would imagine that it would be fully operational and ready to help ease the suffering of children with scoliosis on waiting lists. However, the theatre is not open because of a scarcity of theatre nurses due to the Government's bad planning. This situation must be remedied immediately. Issues around staff shortages, the costs of implants and other bottlenecks in the health system must be addressed and the recruitment of new nurses must be a priority. Bad planning must be rectified immediately and those suffering on waiting lists, including children, must be given an opportunity to attend consultants and have their surgeries scheduled.

Yesterday was the international day of zero tolerance for female genital mutilation, FGM. More than 2,500 women and girls living in Ireland are estimated to have undergone FGM according to 2008 research done by the national network of African women living in Ireland. It is a major issue that I must raise in the Chamber today.It involves the mutilation of female genitalia for non-medical reasons and is a serious violation of the human rights of females. FGM has been inflicted on approximately 200 million females and the horrific procedure is generally performed on young girls between infancy and the age of 15 years. I reiterate the calls made by numerous non-governmental organisations for its elimination. Awareness of the practice is key. As such, it is necessary to raise the issue today.