Deputy Mary Lou McDonald- speech from 2 Feb 2022

Goe' mairgut, Laskan Gorla. Teachta, Eva Cahill is 11, she is from Tala in Dublin and she has spina bifida. She has been waiting for more than a year and a half for corrective surgery and as a result of this wait, Eva lives in considerable and daily pain because her feet have turned in on themselves and her condition is worsening. Her mother says that it's increasingly difficult for Eva to hold her splint in place and she needs this to keep her feet straight. Eva says it's increasingly difficult for her to do everyday things. Her feet keep getting caught in her pants when she tries to dress herself and she doesn't want anyone to see her feet. Eva, like every child, simply wants to do the things that her friends do and she so badly needs this operation because she says it will make my feet straight and I can tell people that my feet are normal. Eva's story is not unique. 90,000 children are on some form of waiting list. Hundreds of children wait years for urgent life-changing orthopaedic surgery for conditions like spina bifida and scoliosis. Eva says, many children with spina bifida wait between one and four years. Una Cately of the Spina Bifida Paediatric Advocacy Group outlines what this means for these children. The open sores and wounds, the skin breakdown and infection, the incredible mental distress for their families and for the children themselves. And some have waited so long that they are now inoperable. Inoperable. Having waited for a procedure to which they are entitled but now it's too late for them. Orthopaedic consultant Connor Green told the Oireachtas Health Committee in November the children's potential is being destroyed physically and psychologically because of all of this. And due to the weight, children who once walked independently are now in wheelchairs. This is a failure of vulnerable children. So Taoiseach, time is of the essence. The longer these children wait for surgical intervention, the more complex procedures they eventually need. The weight is ruining their chance and their right to a normal life free of pain. It's not good enough for them to be simply let be. Now everyone will have to look at the pain of the bifida and scoliosis in the past. The next time they will be able to drive them to do and will carry them to 10 million euros. They will now be able to drive them to the next day of their life. The government could act today to end the agonising wait for these children, to get them off the waiting list and ensure that they have the life-changing procedures they desperately need. For a relatively modest investment of €5 million, the additional capacity necessary could be delivered to clear these lists. This funding request has been with your government and with your Minister for Health for two years. So Taoiseach, I want to know why this money has not been allocated. Let me tell you, it is the best €5 million your government could spend. It would make a huge difference to their lives, free them of serious pain, improve their long-term outcomes and relieve their families of the most immense stress and worry. Children should not have to display their agony or shed their tears on national television or protest outside the Dáil to get the healthcare they need and that they are fully entitled to. Thank you. Thank you Deputy for raising the issue and if I just may, at the outset I'll ask the question it is, thank you for saying that I am going to talk to you. Thank you very much, and I want to express my deepest sympathies to Mary and to his family under the death of Noel Tracy who has had a long and distinguished public life in 1982. I just want to express my deepest sympathies to Mary and to his family under the death of Noel Tracy, who's had a long and distinguished public life in 1982, he came into Doyle-Irden and into the Oireachtas and served as Minister in many portfolios, principally in the Department of Antisic and European Affairs, Education and Science. I saw that piece on RTE at the weekend in respect of the situation in relation to children waiting for surgery and orthopedic surgery, and could I say in the first instance that additional funding has been made, available to the health service and to the HSE in respect of waiting times and waiting lists, and both in terms of Crumlin and Temple Street, and also in terms of CAPA, you know, the CHI, the Children's Health Ireland, have the capacity to free up space so that complex orthopedic procedures, including scoliosis spinal, sorry, spinal fusion, can be carried out at these CHI sites. And so it's not and should not be an issue of funding. That's the first point I would make, because I think it's unacceptable that children have to wait so long for urgent surgery. COVID did impact and they did get instructions prior to Christmas in respect of public health advice, to prioritise for public health reasons, the capacity within hospitals for COVID, and also the issues surrounding Omicron, that would have happened in earlier surges as well. But, you know, for 2022, 350 million has been made available for improving waiting times. And that includes 150 million to the National Treatment Purchase Fund. So whatever immediate capacity issues can be developed should be developed, because the funding is there to do it. And obviously, I did listen to Conor Green on radio during the week, and he made the point that the obviously the priority is that they would be treated within the CHI sites, because to facilitate follow on treatment for the child who would have had the surgery. I intend to meet with the Children's Health Ireland in relation to this, and I sought a meeting with them and also with the HSE. Because anything that has to be done to reduce these waiting times for children who need urgent surgery has to be done and should be done. And I want to get a proper assessment also in terms of the actual waiting times for the children on the list, and how long individual children are waiting, and the reasons for that. Ms. Teashek, don't play the COVID card, because as far back as 2014, Temple Street issued a report, a damning report, setting out the failures of children with spina bifida. And to this day, these children are failed yet. And I'm afraid it is an issue of funding. It is an issue of funding, and there is a request for 5 million euros of funding that has been with your minister now for two years for Kappa Hospital. Ms. Teashek, you have known about this for many years. This is a matter of funding, so I think we can deal with this quite simply. I want a commitment from you that the monies required to give these children the procedures that they need will be released as a matter of urgency. Deputy Cullen-Anne and I have met with CHI, so by all means, meet with whomsoever you wish, Teashek. But you don't actually need a long round of meetings to understand what has happened here. As a matter of fact, and I will finish on this point, would it surprise you to hear, Teashek, that there are operating rooms, operating theatres, idle in Kappa. We have the surgeons, we have the capacity, they need the funding. It is 5 million euro. Minister Donnelly knows about it. Teashek, make it happen. Ensure that this funding is released urgently, urgently. Deputy Cullen- We started off great. Can we go back to keeping the time? Thank you. Deputy Cullen- I think you are asking the wrong question, Deputy. Deputy Cullen- Five million is not an issue in solving this. Deputy Cullen- Well then release it. Deputy Cullen- It is not an issue. Deputy Cullen- Ask yourself the question, why has not the Kappa request been facilitated? Deputy Cullen- Pardon me? Deputy Cullen- Why hasn't it been facilitated? That is the question you should ask yourself. Deputy Cullen- Why hasn't it what? Deputy Cullen- Why hasn't it been facilitated? Why haven't the authorities? The funding has been given to the HSE. Right? Deputy Cullen- We have said to the HSE, we have said to everybody that listens, in terms of hospital capacity, Deputy Cullen- You need to tell them. Deputy Cullen- Deliver any additional beds capacity that you can do in the shortest time possible. Deputy Cullen- They haven't done it. Deputy Cullen- There were 600 million last year given as a winter initiative. Deputy Cullen- 800 extra beds were provided last year. Deputy Cullen- Funding is not an excuse any longer. Deputy Cullen- Record sums of money have been given to the Health Service Executive, to CHI. Deputy Cullen- They should get on with it and get it done. Deputy Secretary- Tell them that. Deputy Cullen- We have, I have told them that. Deputy Deputy Cullen- No, don't Deputy Deputy Cullen- You want me to go and tell them what Don't you want me to don't. Deputy Deputy Cullen- No, I am happy to. Deputy Secretary- No, no, no. There is an open mic with the Deputy, I do not have that facility when other deputies, I do not interrupt when deputies, this is a regular accordance here, I have to bring it to your attention, and it is disrupting the deliberately premeditated recent meetings. The bottom line, what I am saying to the Deputy is that the Deputy has to ask. Thank you, I am not standing up, we are not going through this, sorry. We do it through the Chair, the Taoiseach should not be interrupted, neither should the deputies, so if we do it through the Chair it might be easier, I will keep a close eye on everything from now on. The last thing I call it is, there is an open mic every day now, at this point it is leaders questions. The time is now up for Sinn Féin and your time, I am moving on to Parcheanlachtaibra, and it is a Tiochta Thaulan. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You