David Cullinane
Waterford · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I met many of those patients and people with the illness yesterday. Many of them were here in Leinster House. They told me, as they have in the past, they cannot walk and they cannot swallow and, as the Taoiseach acknowledged, it is also very difficult for their families who have to watch as their condition worsens and the disease progres…”
“In fact, in the programme for Government the Government committed to reviewing that process because it was accepted it does not always work. The technical review group obviously now needs to be convened and needs to meet urgently. Emily cannot afford more delays.”
“Yesterday, as the Taoiseach knows, the HSE drugs group met to consider reimbursement of Skyclarys, the first approved treatment that can slow the progression of Friedreich's ataxia. Patients hoped for a positive decision. This process has been ongoing for years.”
“They were left desperately making phone calls, checking for updates, asking journalists and asking politicians if they had heard anything. They were treated appallingly. Then, when the news did eventually filter though, they were left devastated.”
“Richard Walsh, consultant neurologist and co-director of the National Ataxia Clinic, has described this drug as a ground-breaking development. He has said that he would prescribe it if it were available in Ireland and that it may reduce the rate of disease progression.”
“"We are not going to regain any of the abilities we've lost, but Skyclarys will give us time. Time when you're dealing with our progressive relentless disease is everything. We all deserve time with our loved ones." Those are the words of Emily Felix, a 28-year-old trainee solicitor from Kilkenny who is living with Friedreich's ataxia.”
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“We want to have various options along the way. There are not enough. There is a need for fines and penalties, particularly where there are instances of neglect and abuse of the kind we have noted in some nursing homes. It is quite extraordinary that while there were almost 200 allegations of abuse in one home, not one cent of a fine was paid. That is really upsetting for people. I want to deal with an aspect of a HIQA report published yesterday that concerns my constituency. HIQA inspectors pointed out that omissions or errors in care delivery were leading to many problems. It is reported that in a County Waterford care centre, inspectors were not assured that the registered provider had taken all reasonable measures to protect residents from abuse.”
“We have heard from HIQA that there is an issue in this regard. The funds are complex legal entities with deep pockets that can end up out of the reach of regulation. I am referring not to the homes themselves but to the parent companies. We have also heard that regulations will need to be changed to deal with this. I accept that and believe HIQA has to be given the powers. Although the Minister correctly said at a meeting of the health committee last week that there are powers to fine nursing homes, cases need to go to court. HIQA itself should have the power to impose fines. Before the Government moved on this, I was very supportive of the idea of HIQA being able to issue compliance orders and I worked with the authority on it. That is fine because we do not want the only option to be the deregistration and closure of a nursing home.”
“Of course, the first priority is that people are cared for in the home. For people to be cared for in the home, however, we have to provide the supports to enable it to happen, particularly when there may be complex needs. However, there are circumstances in which, unfortunately, people need to be in residential care homes. That is just a fact of life. Another fact is that, over the past 20 years, we have seen a drift away from public providers to private providers. We are aware that the ratio of public nursing home capacity to private nursing home capacity has turned on its head. Almost 80% of homes are now private. If that is not bad enough, family-run operators, or what were called “mom and pop operators” ran out of the market, having been bought up by funds that are now providing a service across multiple homes.”
“As was said, the first priority should be ensuring people are cared for in the home and in the community. The difficulty is that many older people are waiting for intensive home care packages. In the previous term and the previous programme for Government, the then Government promised a statutory home care scheme. It never saw the light of day. I am not sure when that will ever come. I suspect it has not come because we simply do not have the capacity in home helps, home care hours and home support hours to deliver it. At the moment, even without a statutory home care scheme, that is under pressure and people are waiting too long. I learned from the response to a parliamentary question I tabled some weeks back that there are people who have only partial hours or a portion of their hours even though they have been allocated more.”
“How does that square with what he said? Has there been some movement since contact was made with us? If that is the case, that would be fantastic. It would be a step forward. Perhaps the Minister could clarify that.”
“The Minister has acknowledged that a funding pressure has been identified so we know there is an issue. The question then is how it will be resolved. I welcome that the Minister said no class or apprenticeship will be either suspended or cancelled. I have been told by the Waterford-Wexford ETB that many of the phase 2 classes for July have not been called, which could affect up to 500 apprentices. It covers very important trades like carpentry and the other trades and skills we need, for example, to build houses. I welcome what the Minister said, in so far as it goes, but could he perhaps provide more clarity on the situation? He is saying this is not going to have an impact on classes being called, yet I have a note that states no apprenticeship class scheduled for July has been called in the Waterford-Wexford area.”
“We want more apprenticeships but there seems to be a funding issue, which we are being told about. We are asking for clarity from the Minister. We are being told this could have an impact on some of the classes due to go ahead in the summer, or that will not go ahead, as the case may be. I do not want to see that happen. Deputy Ó Murchú does not want to see it happen. I am sure the Minister does not want to see it happen. We are trying to establish whether there is an issue, what it is, if the Minister is across it and if it will be resolved.”
“I have also been told that in the Waterford-Wexford ETB, up to 500 phase 2 apprenticeships may not go ahead in June, as they will not be called. There is very real concern in that regard. In fairness to Waterford-Wexford ETB, the number of apprenticeships has been increased. Some 1,000 apprentices now go through the doors. There is a new unit on the Waterford industrial estate that caters for an additional four phase 2 electrical classes and there is one additional plumbing class. In the Wexford FET, there were four additional electrical classes, one plumbing class and one metal fabrication class. In the Kilcohan training centre, there is an additional electrical class and also a brand new wood manufacturing class. I expect the Minister will agree that all of these are very important.”
“I too have been contacted by the Waterford-Wexford ETB. The issue seems to relate to the contract training programme for apprenticeships. My understanding is that previously there was a bid process, known as a funding allocation request to the then Department of Education, based on the number of apprenticeships an ETB would fund and they would get the funding on that basis. Apparently, this year or last year, there was a shift and now there is an allocation as opposed to a bid. There is also an issue due to the fact that so many of the phase 2 classes are being paid phase 4 funding and rates because of Covid. That is one of the differences. I have been told that there is a shortfall of between €40 million and €50 million across all of the ETBs.”
“I do not have a difficulty with funding going to other airports but, over the past several years, whereas Kerry, Donegal, Knock, Cork and Dublin airports have received very significant capital funding, no funding was provided to Waterford Airport because it does not have the runway extension. Can the Tánaiste tell me once and for all when the funding will be given? When can we have a fighting chance in the south east to have air connectivity with Britain and the rest of Europe?”
“I have lost count of the number of times I have raised the need for funding for Waterford Airport in the House. In fact, I have raised this several times with the Tánaiste – almost a dozen at this point. I have also raised it several times with the Taoiseach and the relevant Minister. Despite all the personal statements of support I have received, more of which I have no doubt I will hear from the Tánaiste, what I request has still not happened. A commitment was given in 2019 but there is still no funding six years later. There is genuine frustration right across the south east because three local authorities are funding this, namely those of Wexford, Kilkenny and Waterford. Despite all the promises, all the information sought and all the clarifications given, the funding has not been given.”
“Ordinary people who have to pay increased costs on groceries, insurance and now rent are the ones who are paying the price. The Tánaiste should stand up once and for all. He should not be blaming Sinn Féin for something we did not do and take responsibility for his actions. The Central Bank made it clear today this will hurt those same people. Take responsibility for it, stop it, scrap it, do not put institutional investors first and do not again screw those renters who are already paying high rents with even higher rents.”
“-----but his Government for the fact it is bringing in policies that will drive up the cost of rent for many people. Students will not buy his line of argument. They will see through his spin. Many students are going to see their rent and the cost of their accommodation increase. They know it. They know the Government does not have their backs. The Tánaiste talks about a balance, but the balance here is tipped in favour of the vulture funds, cuckoo funds and the investors.”
“The Government should scrap all the rest of its absolutely crazy proposals that will increase the price of rent. When is the Tánaiste’s Government going to stop punishing renters? Does he now accept that rents will go up as a result of the Government’s decision this week? Will he take the opportunity to correct the record of the Dáil and accept students who live off campus will not be protected under the proposals and will be some of the first to be affected?”
“Rent controls will not apply to new-build homes. They will not apply to existing homes after a renter moves out voluntarily. They will not apply to off-campus student accommodation despite the Tánaiste saying the Government has students' backs. The average tenancy is just over three years long, meaning very soon almost all renters will be hurt by the Government’s decisions this week. They will hurt tens of thousands of people every year. They will lock families into overcrowded accommodation for fear that if they move their rents will skyrocket. There is absolutely no guarantee these changes will increase supply. I believe rents need to be brought down. The Tánaiste and his Government obviously believe rents should go up. Of course the rent pressure zones should have been extended. That should have been done on day one.”
“The Government missed its housing targets last year, it is nowhere near close to meeting them this year and now the Central Bank has again revised down its estimates for new completions this year to barely above 30,000, which is far below the target of 40,000. Not only will the Government miss its targets this year, the Central Bank believes it will miss them next year, the year after that and the year after that. All of this is happening in a cost-of-living crisis. Rents are going up at the same time as groceries, insurance and broadband and at a rate far higher than incomes have increased. This is putting a burden which people simply cannot take. Despite all this confusion there is one absolute certainty, which is that rents will go up and the Government will remove one of the few protections renters have.”
“Then the Minister, Deputy Browne, confirmed the reality that there will be no exemptions or special protections for students in the private rental sector or any renters who will be faced with massive rent hikes. The Tánaiste keeps saying this is a balanced plan but nothing could be further from the truth. The Government cannot promise vulture funds that they can increase prices while pretending to renters that rents will not go up. We know who is going to pay and it is renters, so let us be honest that Government housing policy has always been about investors and giving vulture and cuckoo funds free rein to squeeze rents out of hardworking people. To make matters worse, supply is falling off a cliff.”
“This will hurt students and their families who are paying already extortionate rents and this will hurt ordinary working people who find themselves stuck in an ever-spiralling rental trap. The Tánaiste's Government's plan is a green light for massive rent increases every year. His Government spent a full week attempting to disguise the fact its plan shafts renters. It just could not be straight with people, so in a blizzard of confusion we had Ministers tripping over themselves to contradict each other. The Tánaiste declared in this House last week that "We will be taking specific measures to support students; do not worry we will, because we have their backs".”
“At a time when rents are at record levels the Tánaiste's Government has come up with a new solution: to hike them up even further. Its proposal to effectively remove rent controls from new tenancies signals disaster for renters, especially young people, students and their families and anyone who moves to a new rental home. The reality of the Government's plan was always clear, but now it is not just the Opposition saying it. Despite all the spin and bluster from Government and the Tánaiste over the last few weeks, the Central Bank has said the Government's rent hike Bill will be "painful" for tenants. It said "...the social costs and the pain felt by households is not even...". This will hurt young people and their ability to save to buy their own home.”
“I just find it incredible and cannot get my head around the fact that what is only €750,000 has not been allocated this year to proceed this project. I ask that the Minister of State take this back to the Minister for Transport and urge that he reconsider and provide the funding for this year.”
“In the Minister of State's response she said TII has identified three high-collision sites. That in and of itself tells us how important this road scheme is. Three high-collision sites have been identified because, I would imagine, of the number of fatalities that have happened since 2022. We also have local authorities in the area telling the Minister for Transport very clearly that the road is operating beyond capacity. We have very concerned motorists and very concerned members of the community who are raising these issues, we have the local authority at the highest level raising public safety concerns and road safety concerns and we have the TII identifying high-collision sites on stretches of that road, yet the funding has not come this year.”
“I ask that the decision not to fund that project this year be revisited, the funding be forthcoming and the local authorities in the region be allowed to progress this onto the next stage.”
“The scheme got funding for phases 1 and 2 but has not received any funding since 2022. It cannot progress onto stage 3 and stage 4 until funding is forthcoming. We were hoping it would get funding in this year's round of funding. That did not happen. A total of €728,000 is required for this year. That would have made a huge difference to advance this project, but as Kilkenny County Council has said, the project is essentially stalled. There was a fatality again recently on that stretch of the road. Local residents and local communities are concerned about this stretch of the road. It makes perfect sense from every perspective, economically as well, to link what is the Waterford city bypass and the New Ross bypass. From an economic perspective, it is necessary, but from a road safety perspective, it is absolutely necessary.”
“The Waterford to Glenmore road scheme is an important scheme for the south east. Residents in Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny are concerned. A public meeting has been organised in a couple weeks’ time in June in Kilkenny. It has been organised by a nurse from Wexford and other local community members because they are so concerned about the fatalities that have happened on this stretch of the road over the course of the past number of years. I engaged with officials in Waterford City and County Councils but also in Kilkenny County Council. I understand that the cathaoirleach and CEO of Kilkenny County Council have written to the Minister, Darragh O'Brien, setting out the real road safety issues that are at play here. As Deputy Newsome Drennan referenced, there have been four fatalities since 2022 when the scheme was essentially paused.”
“They felt they were still being failed. They will have to wait now. We do not know how long it will be before this expert panel is established but they feel very angry. I want to be part of helping to restore their trust but unless there is a voice for parents and a voice for advocate groups in whatever arrangements are now put in place, that trust will not be repaired. That is hugely problematic. We all, in particular those in government, have a lot to do to repair the damage and repair the trust, which, undoubtedly, needs to happen if parents are to have trust in CHI again.”
“Again, while I know this is an allegation and a contention, if it is the case that, as reported, this person delayed care for children, then made an application through the hospital for funding from the National Treatment Purchase Fund to treat the same children and did not disclose he was going to be the surgeon carrying out those private procedures at €200 a pop, that is a major conflict of interest that was not managed. I am deeply concerned about that. I have dealt with hundreds of parents in recent months. Earlier I checked and saw that in the couple of hours before I came to the House, I had received 14 emails from parents. I simply could not do justice to all of them in relation to the accounts they gave to me of their experience but suffice to say that all of them feel hurt and let down. They felt they were not listened to.”
“However, when it comes to the huge amount of money that is spent, as a former member of the Committee of Public Accounts, the Minister will know how important it is to achieve transparency. There are major issues that need to be examined. I have spoken to the current head of the HSE and I said that, for me, there are issues in relation to perverse incentives, the productivity of consultants across the system and conflicts of interest.”
“In this case, the allegation is that it was with children - which makes it all the worse, in my view - in order to delay care and not allow other surgeons and healthcare practitioners to treat those children, but simply to treat them on a Saturday or Sunday and make money out of it. I do not know how widespread that is but wherever it happens, it has to be rooted out. My understanding is that the CEO of the National Treatment Purchase Fund is not responsible to any Oireachtas committee and is not an Accounting Officer. That is a mistake. There are many issues. A huge amount of public money is being spent by the National Treatment Purchase Fund and it has particular responsibilities in regard to setting nursing home fees. I accept it needs to be independent in coming to those conclusions and not being affected by political influence.”
“No, there was an internal one that the story this broke in the media. I assume it is the same for the Minister, which is unacceptable. I know further investigations into this matter are taking place. I am making the point that we have a system in this State where someone goes to a GP, is referred to a consultant and is then on that consultant’s list. There are bespoke options in some hospitals and some now operate what is called a centralised referral system. However, it was not the case in every situation and it does not currently seem to be the case in every situation. As I said, there is the potential for a perverse incentive for a consultant to manipulate public waiting lists and delay people getting access to care.”
“It was a mistake not only not to publish the result of that investigation but not to forward it as well. I refer to the investigation into the practice of a consultant.”
“It is necessary and we know we need waiting list initiatives because waiting times are too high. However, I have been raising concerns about the potential for conflicts of interest, perverse incentives and, I would argue, issues of productivity within the public system. We have to ask genuine questions about what work some consultants are doing from Monday to Friday when they are paid from Monday to Friday to carry out public procedures. We need to contrast that with the so-called blitzes and private clinics they are organising and running, while charging €200 for each client they see and making very handsome amounts of money. I know this is a contention and that the outcome of the investigation, internal as it was, has not been published.”
“Let us put children and families first in everything we now do to establish the facts and make sure these children get the care they need. I want to use my remaining time to deal with the other issue that came into the public domain regarding the potential manipulation of public waiting lists. Again, I have a high regard for consultants, who do a fantastic job. I am on record as supporting the Government in putting in place a public-only contract. It is a very important transition that we need to make to remove private healthcare from public hospitals. I very publicly welcomed that at the time because it was the responsible thing to do. I called for it and I want to see it in our public hospitals. However, I have been concerned for some time about the use of public money for insourcing in hospitals to deal with waiting lists.”
“I want every child to have their case reviewed. However, it has to be at arm’s length from Children’s Health Ireland. The Minister has said that will be the case. Obviously, I will wait to see the terms of reference and the criteria involved when they are published. We have to make sure that in everything we do now, families and children are put first, which, to be frank, they have not been to date. Families contacted me yesterday regarding the phone line. While some of them were grateful that at least there was a hotline, in reality, to use their words, they felt the people on the other end, through no fault of their own, could not provide them with answers and were using what the families thought were responses to frequently asked questions. They felt let down by that and this compounds the anger and frustration those families have.”
“I am not sure whether that is legally possible, and I do not know all of the circumstances around it. What I would say is that every option has to be on the table to ensure there is good governance and good management. I will put another point to the Minister, and I say this sincerely and genuinely. A task force was set up in Children’s Health Ireland. Many parents at the time told me they could not sign up to the task force because they did not have confidence in the same people in Children’s Health Ireland who had let them down so badly and who were responsible for all of those failures. Again, I can understand that from those parents. However, we have a situation now where an expert panel is going to be established to look at and evaluate each individual case. I welcome that because it is necessary.”
“The Minister talked about members of the board and about wanting to be careful and cautious. She said that the new CEO is accountable to a board and so on. Parents get very frustrated when they hear that because they feel, at a corporate level, Children’s Health Ireland has let them and their children down. I can accept and understand that. I welcome the fact four board members have stood down, as has the chair. Other members of the board need either to be stood down or to stand down, and they need to be replaced as quickly as possible if we are to have confidence. Although I am not sure how accurate this is, I saw media reports which suggested that there may have been some discussion about the responsibilities of the board being subsumed into the HSE board.”
“I can only imagine that if any of our children had a procedure that we felt was unnecessary, for whatever reason, we would be devastated. That devastation is very real for the parents involved. Again, we do not know why. Parents ask me, not just about this issue but also in the context of all of these issues, how this was allowed to happen. How is it that the surgeons failed? I accept that not all of them failed. I want to put on record that there are many brilliant surgeons and staff in Children’s Health Ireland. I have said this publicly. My heart goes out to all of the great staff working in Children’s Health Ireland who do such a fantastic job. However, there are those who have failed and they have to take responsibility for that. Others failed as well.”
“We have all commended the whistleblowers in Children’s Health Ireland who have come forward, and I have met some of them in recent years. Very quickly after that audit was leaked and arrived on the website of The Ditch , 2,200 letters were sent out to families. Parents are very worried, anxious and angry for a range of understandable reasons. They are worried that an unnecessary operation or procedure could have been carried out on their child. That would be cruel, particularly when we consider the stories we have heard about children who have had to learn to walk again after these procedures and those who were put through surgeries that are painful and difficult for any child. I have two children. One is 18 and is now an adult, but I also have a 14-year-old.”
“Nayagam and perhaps others as well. Dr. Nayagam was looking at very unusual patterns of high rates of return to surgery, infections and other issues. We still have not received that report. We must wait until the report is completed, but I have no doubt that it is going to point to very similar issues and patterns in respect of clinical failures and governance and management. Then we had the leaking of the audit into hip dysplasia and osteotomies carried out on children. That was published by The Ditch . It was not picked up or covered all that much, even though it was being raised in the Dáil and many of us saw it as a very serious issue. Of course, it was only a draft audit. What was in that audit and what was published, however, was very worrying. I assume it was a whistleblower who put it in the public domain.”
“That person must take responsibility for their actions. The report also cited very clear process failures, management failures and other failures in Children's Health Ireland, which have wider implications beyond the use of non-medical grade springs. In speaking to the Minister, I referred a number of times to one line in the report that was most damning. It was that children were not protected from harm. If that was the only issue in Children's Health Ireland, as bad as it was, then we could deal with it, but, unfortunately, that was not the case. As the Minister is aware, we also have a clinical review into surgeon A – I am not sure whether it is only one surgeon involved - who was at the heart of the issues in relation to the use of non-medical grade springs. That person's clinical practice is under review by Dr.”
“I know the Minister met some of the advocates and parents in recent weeks. I met them several times. They raised issues relating to governance failures, clinical failures, management failures, ethical failures and many other issues for years. I listened to them and raised some of their concerns in this House, as did my party leader and others, including Deputy Paul Murphy. Unfortunately, they were not supported, or at least they say very directly - we must be conscious of their experience - that they did not feel supported. I just make the point to the Minister that these are not new issues. Unfortunately, there are various issues involved. Very recently, we had a report from HIQA on the use of non-medical grade springs. In its own right, that was a shocking report. It pointed to very serious clinical failures by a clinician.”
“That is unfortunate, but how could it be any different when we look at numerous reports that have cited governance failures, management failures, clinical failures, ethical failures, conflicts of interest, failures relating to open disclosure, and many more failures right across the system? That creates real problems for Children's Health Ireland. The Minister is new to her post. I have no doubt she is trying to respond to this in the best way she can, but it is not an issue that just dropped into our laps in recent weeks. In fact, I imagine there are parents and advocacy groups watching and listening to this debate that quite rightly say they also blew the whistle on many of these issues for many years. They feel betrayed because they met with what they would describe as a wall of silence - a brick wall.”
“The Minister will agree that the cornerstone of our health service is trust. I am not a clinician, and I do not think she is one. Although some are clinicians, most Deputies in this House are not, but we depend on clinicians to guide us when we develop specialist services, for example, and when we get sick. That came into very sharp focus during Covid when people tried to sow mistrust about clinical advice. I have always been of the view that if I get sick, I go to my GP, thank you very much, for medical advice. We put our faith in the medical fraternity. That is what we have to do. When that trust breaks down, however, it is very difficult and challenging. Trust in Children's Health Ireland is shattered, in particular its orthopaedic services.”
“I welcome that we are now moving in that direction. I also welcome that there is engagement with the local council on a premises. Hopefully, if the Minister of State secures the funding in the Estimates, this is something we can get up and running quickly in Waterford. It will be a fantastic addition for young people.”
“I agree with all of the points the Minister of State has made. As the father of a son who is doing the leaving certificate at the moment, I know about the stress that many young people face. I also agree with the Minister of State's comments regarding the LGBTI community, the trans community in particular, and the work being done by the various groups in Waterford. Obviously, people need mental health supports for a whole range of reasons. There is no family or young person who does not have a mental health difficulty at some point. The most important thing is that the supports are there at the earliest opportunity. As somebody who has visited centres run by Jigsaw and has worked with Jigsaw on other issues, I found it incredible when I first met them that they were not operating in Waterford.”
“We are very happy to work with the Minister of State, with Jigsaw and with anybody else to get this over the line. I am hopeful that we can. It would be a fantastic addition to mental health services in Waterford, particularly for young people. I am hopeful that the Minister of State's response today will be a positive one that will support the application. If she is supportive, what timelines are we looking at to get the service operational and up and running in Waterford?”
“However, if we can prevent a person developing an acute mental health illness and provide the full range of supports young people need, it would be best for everybody, particularly for the young people themselves. Comhairle na nÓg initiated its petition at the west Waterford food festival. It received more than 1,100 signatures. The group was blown away by the interest in this issue. I have met Jigsaw a number of times and I know that an application for funding and a detailed business case have to be made. It is my understanding that this has happened. Those are with the Minister of State. I assume there is also an issue with premises. That will also have to be sorted. As I have said, Deputy Conor McGuinness and I met the representatives from Comhairle na nÓg.”
“A number of weeks ago, I met representatives of Comhairle na nÓg who had travelled from Waterford to submit a petition they had carried out. They met the Minister of State the same day. I know she is aware of this issue. Waterford is the only city that does not have a Jigsaw service. I know the Minister of State would join me in supporting Jigsaw as an organisation for the wonderful work it does. It is really important that young people who have a mental health difficulty get every opportunity to get supports. Very often, the focus is on the acute side and the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, which is obviously very important.”
“The only reason for changing the law is in the Government's interests because Ministers do not want to come in here week in, week out and have to answer for the fact that children are waiting for assessments that they should get. Please do not take people and their families for fools. That is what the Government is doing. From our perspective in Sinn Féin, we will fight this all the way because it will be a disgrace if the Government gaslights those children and their families and takes away one of the few rights they have.”
“Many parents are being forced to go private in a space which is not regulated. At the time of the "RTÉ Investigates" programme, CORU gave a response to RTÉ stating that by the first quarter of 2025, the new regulations would be in place and the registry would be open. That is not now going to be happen. It is going to be October before it happens, and even then not all psychologists will be included. The Government has let families down every step of the way. The State has not provided the service, the Government has broken the law, and people and children are waiting longer for assessments of need and access to services. The Government is gaslighting them, telling them the law will be changed because it is in their interest.”
“It is an absolute, utter disgrace and a deeply cynical move by this Government. I also want to raise a separate and very serious issue. Because of the failure on the Minister's part and that of the Government, parents are desperate and have to go for private assessments, but that is an unregulated environment. Psychologists carrying out assessments in this space are not regulated. CORU was established in 2007 with the commencement of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 and has had the power to regulate psychologists since then. Twenty years on, this has not happened. The Psychologists Registration Board was established in 2017, nearly eight years ago. This scandal was highlighted on an "RTÉ Investigates" programme in 2023, which shone a spotlight on what was described as a wild west of an unregulated space.”