Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter, which is important to the people I represent. I thank the Minister for coming in to take the question in person and give it the seriousness it deserves.

I have lived in the Bailieborough area for more than roughly 30 years and in all of that time, there has been a speech and language service available to parents in Bailieborough, Shercock and Mullagh. I understand that this would have been the case in most areas throughout the county. It is my understanding from parents in this area that the service has been abandoned, and families are now asked to attend the service in the town of Cavan. In other words, it is centralised. Not all of the families have transport. It is difficult to overcome this, and the costs are big as the Minister will appreciate.

In an area like Cavan, while huge strides were made in public transport during the previous Government, which is outside this debate, and there are much improved bus services, there are still not trains. Using the buses to go to Cavan town involves quite a chunk of a day and it is expensive. For many families, the time involved in getting to Cavan town and back is not available to them either because of work or having other children to care for. This repeats itself in areas like Ballyconnell and others. The extra time involved will greatly damage their schooling. The children are not attending school if they are travelling to get there and presumably there are all sorts of diversions the children will insist on when they get to Cavan town. They are, therefore, losing out on schooling.

I am aware that the non-attendance policy takes them out of the service quickly. In other words, if somebody is due to attend and they miss one or two, then they are struck off and go off the service for non-attendance. This will greatly increase non-attendance. That is a huge part of it in my view, and there is anecdotal evidence to support that. If I understand properly the values of Sláintecare or what it seeks to achieve, this totally contravenes it. There are many vulnerable families in the area I am discussing and in other areas in the county.

I understand that in the case of cancer services and other clinical needs, there are cases for centralisation on the grounds of not losing excellence, etc. Those arguments have been well rehearsed. However, I am a teacher by background, and I cannot see how speech and language therapy delivery is improved by moving its location. It is a one-to-one thing with very little resources. It is mind-bogglingly stupid unless I have been misinformed.