Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I raise matters relating to the HSE. First, I welcome the full reopening of maternity services. I congratulate the Oireachtas women's caucus, Senator Fiona O'Loughlin and the Leader for all their work on this. It is really important and it is way beyond time. The situation was ridiculous.

Second, this morning the Joint Committee on Disability Matters heard incredible testimony from advocates of the personal assistant services. It would do us all well to look back on their testimony, as it was incredibly powerful.

Third, now that maternity services are moving towards a full reopening, I want to raise something that I am personally affected by. We are not doing adequate child development checks. This country has a significant backlog. Children are not being checked. Mothers are getting a booklet in the post outlining where their child should be on the general development scale. No child is general. This is an important issue that we have to start looking at. I have had contact over and back with the HSE. There seems to be no plan to get through the backlog of child development checks. In CHO 8, almost 20,000 children have not been checked. My son is one of those. Thankfully, I do not have any worries about my children. Hearing, sight, clicky hips and many other issues can be seen by parents every day but they might not notice. These development checks are important. This morning's committee meeting was a reminder that when children are left behind, we open a bigger can of worms. I ask the Leader contact the HSE on behalf of the House to ask for the resumption of child development checks.