Deputy Mary Lou McDonald- speech from 15 Oct 2025

The motion tabled today by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil is a move cynically designed to intercept and shut down a prospective motion of no confidence in Tanaiste Simon Harris to shield him from being held to account for his litany of failures but primarily his profound failure of children with scoliosis and spina bifida and the pace with which government moved to protect Simon Harris today stands in very marked contrast to the constant delay that is the hallmark of his failure of some of the most vulnerable in our society. The making and breaking of promises has come to define his time in office as Minister for Health, as Taoiseach and now as Tanaiste. Broken promises that have caused deep hurt, pain and anger for so many people broken promises that have broken promises that have damaged lives in the most serious way. It is also important to say that the call for a no confidence motion in Simon Harris or indeed the call for Simon Harris to resign didn't originate here in the Dáil. Those calls came directly from a groundswell of public anger, an anger that grew throughout the weeks of late summer, conveyed in protest and marches following the harrowing death of nine-year-old Harvey Morrison Sherratt, who suffered from scoliosis and spina bifida. Calls for justice that were supported by Harvey's heartbroken parents, Gillian and Stephen. I want to record that there is nothing toxic nor cynical in their calls for accountability and justice. Quite the opposite, in fact. Their heartache, hurt and anger is traced back and connected to the promise made by the Taoiseach in 2017 when, as Minister for Health, he promised that no child would wait more than four months for spinal surgery. What that promise meant to those children and their families should never ever be underestimated. You see, they took Simon Harris at his word. They believed that they were finally being listened to. That finally government would provide the resources needed to end the suffering of their children and to give their children the chance at life to which they were entitled. Sadly, over the last eight years that promise has been broken over and over again. Children have been left to wait in agony, their conditions deteriorating by the day as they are denied the operations that could change their lives, indeed that might save their lives. Year by year, Choctaw Harris's promise came to be seen for what it was, something that sounded good on radio. Good for the moment. And the anger surrounding the Taoiseach's broken promise has only been aggravated by his attempt to pass the book to HSE officials. So for your words, for your empty promise, forgiving these children and their families false hope. You, Thánaiste, are the only person responsible. You weren't a commentator. You weren't even a backbench TD. You were the Minister for Health, making a serious commitment. So the book stops with you, and only with you. Harvey Marston Chirat was born the year Simon Harris was appointed Minister for Health. And then in 2017, when Harvey was just one year old, his parents were told that his ribs were crushing his lungs. That was the same year that Thánaiste made his infamous promise. While waiting years for the operation he desperately needed, the curve in Harvey's spine deteriorated from 75 degrees to 130 degrees. Harvey's dad, Stephen, said, He watched him deteriorate, cry in pain, struggle to breathe, and lose the sparkle in his eye. Speaking on the Late Late Show last month, his mum Gillian said, Knowing that he was only going to live to be nine, knowing that he spent the guts of three years in pain on a waitlist, feels incredibly unjust. If Harvey had access to timely healthcare, he wouldn't have missed so much of his childhood. We would have more memories as a family, more happy memories, and not so many negative memories. It robbed him of a large portion of his childhood, and that is incredibly unfair. These are the words of parents who have lost about as much as you can lose in life. In September of last year, in the Dáil, I raised with Simon Harris Harvey's worsening condition, the need for urgent surgery, and the fact that he had been silently removed from the waiting list without his parents' knowledge. Deputy Harris promised to urgently meet with the parents. And yet, it took more than a year to fulfil that promise. And by that time, Harvey had died. He had sadly passed away. Harvey's parents would be the first to tell you that he is not the only child who has suffered, and who suffers as a result of government's failure of children. Over the last number of years, I have had the privilege of getting to know a lad from Tullamore by the name of TJ Coughlin quite well. Some of you might know TJ. He's an amazing young man. He's smart. He's positive. He's full of optimism. He's great crack. He's just a real lover of life. Having been born with spina bifida, TJ was diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of nine. He was told he needed an operation to correct the curve in his spine. He was left to wait years without surgery. And TJ waited so long that he became inoperable at the age of 13 years. And he's now confined to a wheelchair. The curve in his back remains, causing him pain and difficulty breathing. This courageous young man has been robbed of the life that he deserved. And his big appeal is that this should never ever happen to one other child. Yesterday, as was noted, the Oireachtas AV room was packed to capacity with TDs, Shanna doors with the minister herself. And we all heard parents speak of the pain, the trauma, the suffering of their children with scoliosis and spina bifida. Children waiting in agony for their operations. Children who waited so long they became inoperable. Parents racked with worry that their child might die waiting for the care and surgery they need. It's stolen childhoods, it's broken lives, it's damaged futures. A catalogue of human hurt and anger that stems from a most profound betrayal. A promise broken by you. Today there are 225 children waiting for their operations. The promise is being broken again in real time today as we speak. The lifeline of children being able to access surgery abroad has proven a dead end for most. The promise of a public inquiry into the care of spina bifida and scoliosis patients at Children's Health Ireland must be fulfilled. And it is essential now that government move heaven and earth to get every child the surgery they need. Because Simon Harris' broken promise can't steal from those children what it has already stolen from so many others. Of course, the backdrop to this catastrophic failure of children is the ongoing fiasco surrounding the National Children's Hospital. As Minister for Health, Simon Harris signed the contract for this project. Something he very bizarrely denied during general election debates last year. A brazen attempt to distance himself from responsibility. The opening of this hospital has been delayed again and again. Billions of public money have been spent. And yet to this day, not one child treated. Broken promises cut more deeply when they are broken by someone with the power to make a difference. And if the Taunish that can break such a profound promise to children in such desperate need of surgery, then it should come as no surprise that he can so readily break his promises on issues like the cost of living, giving ordinary workers a break in their income tax, abolishing student fees or delivering affordable childcare. Those big election promises were broken in last week's budget. A budget in which government brags, as they have done again today, about their billions, and still manages to leave working people worse off. Worse off. You see, arrogance and a sense of entitlement is the bedrock upon which your government was formed. The foundation stone of a grubby deal struck by Simon Harris, Micheál Martin and Michael Lowry. A deal all about holding on to power at all costs. About protecting the positions of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. About feathering the nests of those at the top. Delivering for children with scoliosis and spina bifida wasn't even on the radar when you were brokering that deal. You tabled this motion today simply because you didn't want a vote of no confidence in the Fine Gael leader landing in the same week as the presidential election. That's actually your priority and we all know it. Let it be said, in that election people will have the opportunity to vote for values that stand in marked contrast to broken promises and grubby deals, the proven currency of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in government. It's a currency, of course, with which Fine Gael's presidential candidate, Heather Humphries, is fully comfortable. She was fully aware of the promise that Simon Harris made to children with scoliosis and spina bifida. Fully aware of the devastation caused to families when that promise was repeatedly broken. And yet she backed him to the hilt. And I have no doubt if she were in the chamber today, she would back him again. Nominating him for Taoiseach, she had this to say. It is simply this sense of wanting to help, of breaking down barriers and making life better for people that drive Simon Harris. I know under his leadership we will see a major focus on improving supports for people with disabilities. So she said. Now I'd imagine at that time the parents of children waiting in agony for spinal surgery listened in disbelief to that. I'd imagine the parents of children left waiting and waiting for their assessment of needs were also left shaking their heads in disbelief. Because remember, it's taken 15 year old Cara Darmody to force any movement from government on this issue. And may I remind you, as she consistently does, that you are still breaking the law. Leaving children on waiting lists and not abiding by your six month statutory duty. The vast majority of people are decent and trusting. And they believe that if you say something, that you will follow it through. If you promise something, you will keep your word and come through for them. Especially on an issue profoundly affecting their lives. Making promises is easy. Doing the work to keep those promises is hard. And Simon Harris does not want to do the hard work. So the shattering of public trust in Simon Harris, which is mounted in recent months, is a result of the Taunishta revealing himself to be a man who will say what needs to be said to get a positive reaction in any particular moment, but does not follow through on commitments made. The collapse in trust has been fostered by the Taunishta's own actions, his own words and a litany of broken promises. That is the record that he is confronted with today. People aren't fools and they have long memories and they're good at remembering when those in power walk away from their promises. And I just wonder away from the cameras and the mics, away from the din and indeed the cut and thrust of here. Is there regret at breaking so many commitments? I remember Taunishta, you once said that you remembered the names and faces of children with scoliosis and spina bifida that you had met. Well, they're looking on today and they feel so badly let down, so badly failed. I have no confidence in you. The families you have let down have no confidence in you. Increasingly, the wide public seeing more and more have no confidence in you either. And God hurried the day when they get to remove you from power. Hear, hear. Hear, hear. Okay.