Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We all have our own interpretation of how we have arrived at the happy condition of prosperity but I will not go into that. Now that we are in a prosperous and good budgetary position in this country, the great contemporary challenge is to end the waiting lists for assessments of our children for conditions such as autism, dyspraxia, dyslexia and so on; to improve the services after the ending of those waiting lists; and indeed to end waiting lists and similarly intervene in CAMHS. Two initiatives have been taken by the Government in this regard which are welcome. One is the special Cabinet subcommittee set up by An Taoiseach dealing with disability. The other is the greater investment in places for health professionals. One of the issues here is capacity, the number of speech therapists, psychologists and so on. We lack the number of professionals. A new, strong emphasis has to go on this. We have to use initiatives involving private professionals, cross-Border initiatives, east-west initiatives and indeed any initiative that will get the waiting lists down and encourage and improve the number of professionals we have. There is a dearth there. There is a problem with the difference in conditions between section 39 personnel and straight government people who are paid directly from the Ministry. It behoves us in the Seanad to give this issue priority at a time when we are in a position to deal with it. We should debate it and look at creative solutions. A number of us in this House have a background in education. If we do not intervene very quickly with children, the results are catastrophic. If there is not early intervention with teenagers with psychological difficulties and so on or sometimes psychiatric issues, again it is even more catastrophic, with some awful results. This is an important area. I am asking the Leader to see how we can go about dealing with it as a House, to have rolling debates on it and put it at the top of the agenda at a time when we are in a position to deal with it and should tackle it.