Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I think the Sinn Féin leadership in Ardoyne who are responsible for showing real leadership in keeping the peace in that area, so that people can celebrate in a safe way that leaves behind sectarianism, bigotry and hatred that we need to stamp out.

A number of weeks ago I raised as a Commencement Matter the dire situation with the crisis in physiotherapy services in County Mayo. It has not improved since then. The situation is still the same. We have an area, the size of Erris with a population of approximately 10,000 people without a physiotherapy service of any kind. A person would have to travel almost 50 miles to the nearest physiotherapist. There are significant waiting lists which are growing longer and longer. It is absolutely unacceptable that this situation be allowed to continue. I know that people talk about investment in Dublin and not being in competition with the regions. I would ask anybody from an urban area to understand what it is like for the most vulnerable people in society not to be able to get something as basic as physiotherapy in their own communities. That ranges right through the life cycle, from elderly people to children to people who are recovering from injuries. The damage that is being done physically and indeed mentally to people because they cannot get physiotherapy is completely unacceptable. We talk about a rainy day fund. It is a rainy day in Erris when one cannot get a physiotherapist. It is a rainy day in north Mayo when there is not even one paediatric physiotherapist supplied by the HSE. They hide behind the cloak of maternity and long-term sick leave. It is unacceptable that one would have children with disabilities who are medically deemed to need physiotherapy every week who have not got physiotherapy for months just because they come from an area in rural Mayo.

I ask the Leader to bring this to the attention of the Minister for Health again, to ask him to intervene and do something immediately about it.