Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a lot to say on this matter because I seldom I get out to speak about it. Community neurorehabilitation is incredibly important and when one talks about the strategy, what we want is people to come out of the National Rehabilitation Centre, NRH. What we want is people to come out of long-term residential care to be supported in the community. That is the priority. What we do need to do is work to the strategy.I have to be fair to the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath. I put this proposal to him last year as part of the budgetary process. I had to make difficult decisions and I focused on neurology, with the appointment of 28 neurology nurses at a cost of €1.4 million and the two teams at €1.8 million. They were prioritised within my budgetary line. The next step was to speak to Brian Higgins and Anne Ennis to understand why it was not working in CHO 6 and CHO 7. That was a vital part of the engagement in the context of the need to fund another ten people to have the critical piece.

The next matter I am addressing is the lack of a paediatric neurology strategy. We need to ensure children who live outside the beautiful M50 commuter belt, as the Senator and I do, and have to go to Temple Street or Crumlin children's hospitals are supported. We need to ensure those children are supported in Galway, Cork, Clare and everywhere else in the country. As I am developing a paediatric neurology strategy in budget 2024, people can relax in that regard.