Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge former Deputy and Senator, Hugh Byrne, in our Gallery today.I wish to raise, like he did so many times, an issue relative to his area in New Ross, County Wexford, that is, to invite the Minister for disability to the House to specifically discuss speech and language therapists. At present in New Ross, three speech and language therapist posts are allocated by the HSE and all three are vacant. In particular, children in need of a speech and language therapist in New Ross are not seen by the HSE or are asked to travel outside the region to take up assessments, treatment and therapy in other places. This is unacceptable. I would encourage a debate on this issue, as it is one I have no doubt is replicated across the country. While strides have been made and the Government has committed in the programme for Government to making this a priority, we need to see action on this matter immediately. I ask the Leader for a debate on it.