Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is good to see the Minister of State back in the House. I know he had a difficult couple of weeks. He had all our best then and we are genuinely delighted to see him back. He is a colleague who served with us and who has public service at the forefront of everything he does. He is here this evening for a difficult debate. I do not disagree with anything said by Senator Boylan because he is correct. It should not take a child - not the parents but the child - having to go on the media at budget time to speak about the pain he suffers, how debilitating and difficult it is and how he is constantly in pain. I heard live the two Ministers the following day responding to it. They responded in a very humane way and I would expect nothing less from either of them. We are raising this issue and it is on the agenda because we really need results. I sincerely hope the young chap in Cork is getting the treatment he should have received long ago.

The other 160 children also need to get their treatment without delay, without complication, without difficulty, without having to go public and without having to share their story with others. We are a society. We are a First World country. We are one of the most successful countries in the world. We do things well here but we are not doing this well and we really need to because it is what our young people deserve.

We all know that when interventions are delayed it has an effect, particularly in young people. I know this from my knowledge of eye difficulties and the challenges young people face. If their eyes are dealt with very quickly there is some chance they will retain most of their vision, but if a procedure is delayed unnecessarily it will have a profound effect. It is not rocket science; it is very simple and clear.

People have emailed all of us about this and rightly so. People from Clare, Cork, Tipperary and Kerry have shared their stories with me by email. I read them all and my heart went out to them. They are now coming together as a group and they are doing so very successfully as we are here having this debate. It is no use unless we get a result. We need a result for these young people. They deserve it. Our society deserves to do better. The "Late Late Toy Show" will be on Friday night, which is great and people will spend time with their children. This is simple stuff and we need to make sure it happens. I know of the Minister of State's commitment to it. I know he will send the message up the line.