Mattie McGrath blasts HSE and CHI over children's care crisis
Mattie McGrath criticised severe staff shortages and long waiting lists in children's disability teams, accusing the HSE and CHI of failing families and urging the importation of specialist surgeons. He addressed the Minister during the debate, highlighted 11 vacancies in disability teams, and said management had been callous and misused ring-fenced funds.
The speech focused on depleted disability teams, with 11 staff vacancies and a growing backlog of children awaiting assessment and surgery. McGrath said children with a range of needs were left without timely assistance and described the situation as "beggars belief".
McGrath rejected the idea of sending children abroad by plane and instead urged bringing in special surgeons from the United States or elsewhere to clear waiting lists and provide expertise not available locally. He framed this as a practical measure to show compassion and to address the backlog swiftly.
McGrath accused the HSE and CHI of being "not fit for purpose," saying ring-fenced money had been spent elsewhere and that management appeared callous and unempathetic. He criticised bureaucracy, directors with "fancy titles," and a system that failed to deliver basic, timely surgeries.
He described the situation as devastating for families, referenced loss of life and wrongly classified files, and spoke from personal perspective noting his late brother was a paediatrician. McGrath urged urgent action and compassion to prevent further harm to children and their families.
Staff shortages and waiting lists
The speech focused on depleted disability teams, with 11 staff vacancies and a growing backlog of children awaiting assessment and surgery. McGrath said children with a range of needs were left without timely assistance and described the situation as "beggars belief".
Proposal to bring in specialist surgeons
McGrath rejected the idea of sending children abroad by plane and instead urged bringing in special surgeons from the United States or elsewhere to clear waiting lists and provide expertise not available locally. He framed this as a practical measure to show compassion and to address the backlog swiftly.
Criticism of HSE and CHI management
McGrath accused the HSE and CHI of being "not fit for purpose," saying ring-fenced money had been spent elsewhere and that management appeared callous and unempathetic. He criticised bureaucracy, directors with "fancy titles," and a system that failed to deliver basic, timely surgeries.
Impact on families and personal testimony
He described the situation as devastating for families, referenced loss of life and wrongly classified files, and spoke from personal perspective noting his late brother was a paediatrician. McGrath urged urgent action and compassion to prevent further harm to children and their families.
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Transcript
I'm delighted to be able to speak at this, and I'm delighted that the Minister is Tasha Earnshaw and listening to the debate. Very important Minister, look this has to be sorted out. I raised today, in the order of business, promised legislation about the children and our teams, disability teams, so depleted, so depleted, 11 staff vacancies there with years. So I said, and their children have some of varying degrees of needs, and some very little, but they need assistance. But this is just beggars belief, beggars belief, such a profound, challenging, you know, illness. And so, so obvious to the, obviously to the parents, but obviously to anybody. And I said here, some years ago, this is debated, that there was some proposal to send the children, the patients to America by plane. Obviously that was a no-brainer, because you couldn't travel by plane because of the condition. But I suggest that time, before serious about this, we would get some special surgeons from the United States, or wherever, and bring them in here to deal with the backlog, and the waiting lists. I don't have to remind you of what your leader and Tarnasher promised, and what happened there. And I think that money went in there, the money was ring-fence, and then it wasn't ring-fence, it got used up elsewhere. What kind of an out-of-control HSE, health system, do we have here, that's so, that seems to lack in total compassion and immunity. And there are many, many good people. My late brother was a paediatrician of some renown, and he cared deeply for Tarnasher. I know what many, many health people do. But it's the management, and it's a bland word to say management, how these systems, how they can be so callous, and so unimpatetic, and how they can deal with that on a daily basis, and see that problem and just walk away from it. It wouldn't happen on farms. It wouldn't be allowed to happen. It's so, so, so devastating for families. So devastating, and we saw loss of life, and we saw how, you know, files were into wrongly, and wrongly classified. So simple to say that. But it's so deeply hurtful, and so deeply just troubling to parents and to anybody with a heart and human. So the HSE is not fit for purpose, hasn't it? CHI is not fit for purpose by any manner. I mean, CHI is not fit for purpose. But we keep piling on and giving them more and more money, and adding more, and put on directors, and let them all have nice, big fancy titles. And the basic, decent humanity of a required surgery can't be done in a timely manner. And if we haven't the expertise here, we should be importing it from abroad, and try and show some compassion. Otherwise, we should fold up our tent in here, and go away, and we're like a total world country. It's shocking, and it just hurts me deeply to have to talk about it. Thank you.