Rose Conway-Walsh demands answers on missing scoliosis cases

It is an absolute disgrace that even today we still do not know which children were wrongly and removed from the scoliosis waiting list or why it happened. Families have been left in the dark while children suffer in pain, but there is a clear culture of secrecy, concealment and unaccountability at the heart of children's health care and another lack of transparency and I want to talk to you again for the many, many times that I have done it about Mikey Henry Benson from Mayo who is still waiting for the procedures that he needs. I want to ask you, Taoiseach, will you ask your Minister for Health when she is in Mayo on Monday, would she meet with the family of Mikey Henry Benson to go through the episodes and the pain that they have gone through, but to find a way forward so that we can ensure that Mikey Henry Benson stays alive. Thank you, Deputy. Deputy O'Callaghan? I will find what I can as quickly as I can. Deputy O'Callaghan, Deputy O'Callaghan, Deputy O'Callaghan. A, Deputy Deputy O'Amanda. Deputy Deputy DEMPSE raised the issue in terms of transition from child services to adult services and there was an absence of early planning for that. He also made a comment that the parents were told that there would be therapies that would not be available, in transition is not acceptable. And respite should not be withdrawn. the disability units that I've established, a key work stream will be planning and designing for the future. There should be proper data and proper early analysis of expected need for services from primary to post-primary, from post-primary to adult, or indeed continuing education or other aspects. And that's where I want to get to, and that's where we want to get to as a government, because there is no doubt, and Deputy Arda has raised this as well, as have others. The insecurity is shocking, it's very sad that so many parents and I've met them have no certainty. Deputy Daly said it was a cliff edge, and it is for many. And if you talk to some of the providers, Section 38 and 39, they're all dealing with emergency cases. That's not satisfactory, so we've got to get a more planned approach to this transition. I think there are also issues in terms of the interaction between the Section 38 and 39 in government and government services and how that works. And many of those are under pressure as well, I have to acknowledge. But equally, we've got to work out the models and so forth. There should be proper databases outlining, you know, how many people are in a given service at a given time, and what will the requirements be at a later date. And that issue of creating a secure transition, and that older parents, in particular senior citizens now, have a certain sense of security and knowledge well in advance, that their children will be looked after in case anything happens in terms of themselves. And that is a very understandable human concern, which has not been met at the moment, but which needs to be met. And very determined that we would put services in place to enable that to happen. And there is a fear, as Deputy Ardaa said, there. And you called for a national plan for this, and it's something I think that is that I'm going to work on, and that people would have that security. And I think all the deputies in that regard have raised that issue. We should be looking at a seamless transition. Ideally, that's what we should be looking at. And there's a link into housing, as well, in that respect, and different solutions at different times in the journey of life that people can move to better accommodation, more suitable accommodation, and we should have greater flexibility around that provision. And there can be too many silos between different government departments in respect to that. But we are working on that, and that's what the Cabinet Subcommittee is for, to do across government, whole-of-government approach. And then in terms of the income, and the disregard of the cost of disability, Deputy Daly and others again raised that. Again, first of all, the cost of disability will be looked at in the next budget, and there's a working group established in relation to that. But also the relationship between work and disability payment. There are some supports, there, for transitioning, if you like, from disability, from the social protection system, into work, in terms of medical care. But I think that can be strengthened, and that those moving into work can be given greater certainty, more long-term certainty, that they will retain their benefits, or whatever entitlements they have as they go into work. Now, there has been improvements on the employer grant, and so on like that, that has improved. But there is further work to be done in terms of giving greater security around that transition, and encouraging people to go into work without fear of losing their health entitlements, or the various other entitlements that they have. We dealt with earlier, in terms of the leaders' questions in respect of Harvey, Sharon Morrison, and I would say to the Deputy that the Minister is right this afternoon meeting with the Piridans. The Minister did look for a chronology from the HSE. The Minister has that. The Minister shared that with the family. The CEO of the HSE shared that with the family. It's a draft, because the family, the HSE wanted the family's input into that. The protected disclosure I dealt with earlier at leaders' questions. The Minister did not see that, and all protected disclosures don't go to the Minister's per se. The Minister has an obligation to establish a system by which it goes to the protected disclosure commissioner. And that that Commissioner has the specific protected disclosure, and is not going to deal with that. But without question, there was a meeting on, between the Minister Taunashta and the Piridans of Harvey, with a view to an inquiry, the precise format to be determined. Deputy Coppager had a similar question in relation to this. And it is a fundamental question as to why Harvey was taken off a waiting list. There are clinical decisions clearly involved here, that have to be examined, and will be examined. And likewise, there's other broader investigations and examinations of issues pertaining to CHI, as you know. Some of them have come in, some haven't. But overall, again, terms of reference have to be specific here. And we have to make sure that we don't have, we can have statutory inquiries that can go on too long, and don't give closure to families. So I think there's a bit of work to be done yet. And the Minister's meeting with the family in that regard. In terms of the Deputy Murphy raised the issue of, again, the cost of disability program, I've dealt with that earlier, insofar as the next budget, we'll be dealing with that. The once-off payments were two years. What we were determined to do in this budget was to increase the permanent payments within the social protection system, which we did, for example, and enhance them as well. And also in terms of the carers allowance threshold and income disregard to increase that. And we will eliminate that over the lifetime of this government. We increased the domiciliary care allowance significantly. Now in terms of the, and then in terms of education, there's now about 46,500 teachers and SNAs working in our education system committed to supporting and nurturing children with special education needs. So there's huge numbers of special needs assistants have been appointed over the last number of years. There's about 400 new special classes in the budget of 2025, about 2,700 new places for the 25-26 school year. Some of those school places have not yet been under construction and been put in place. There's a number of specifics have been asked. I'll check those up with the Minister. I'm not in a position to have knowledge of every single application from individual schools in respect of autism classes and so forth. But I will follow those up with the Minister and I presume the deputies are also engaging with the departments in respect of that. The assessment of needs, the Cabinet Subcommittee on Disability did approve outline proposals for a change in legislation, which will have to happen, and to prioritise the provision of services, therapy services to children has been the number one priority in terms of the legislative objective of that. Ames is a critical intervention for early years in terms of disability. In terms of Deputy McGuinness's question, I would make that point and that has been enhanced and approved and will be improved as a result of the recent budget. Again, Deputy Craig raised the issue that Deputy Arda and Deputy Dempsey raised in terms of insecurity and worry for ageing parents of children with disabilities. I'm very conscious of that and we will work to see can we improve upon that. Deputy Conway Raj, I've dealt with that issue. Deputy O'Callaghan, again I'll check in terms of the School of Bell Doyle, I don't have awareness of that and in terms of Deputy Boyd Barrett, again I don't have the specific issue but I think it's an income threshold issue in terms of people marrying and I will have that, I will have that examined, I will have that examined and that's something that certainly we can look at also. And I'll talk to the Minister of Social Protection in relation to that. Thank you. I think you were referring to the previous question, the one on Mikey Henry Benson. Sorry, but again I'll talk to the Minister with respect but to be fair, I mean there's a clinical, this should be done at hospital level, it should be done properly through the clinicians, properly engaging with the family, with the parents. There are liaison officers in the CHI as well who should be. Well I'll make the Minister aware of the case. Thank you.