Last week in response to an issue raised on Leaders' Questions about the HSE, the Taoiseach said that certainly there are no secrets in the Department of Health or the HSE and he agreed that we should have an honest debate about our health care and health funding. I disagreed with him on the first issue. There are many secrets in the health service and one of them is sitting in the Public Gallery just up there in front of the Tánaiste, so let us have an honest debate.

Aisling Corcoran is 31. She travelled here this morning with her mother Tricia from Mayo. Aisling had rods inserted when she was a young child because she had scoliosis. In 2014, the rods had to be removed as they were infected and she went on the waiting list for surgery to get rods reinserted. Aisling was under the care of a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in University Hospital Galway. I first had contact with Aisling in early 2015 as I had been raising many questions about the Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin. I will read out a few lines from a letter from the consultant in University Hospital Galway:

Aisling is one of approximately 40 people under my direct care that require major complex spinal surgery at Galway University Hospitals. She has been placed on a waiting list for some time for this to occur and in the current context of allocation of resource to me at my hospital I do not see it happening easily for the foreseeable future.

This is exactly what happened. She was transferred to a consultant in Tallaght Hospital. Her first consultation was in January 2016. Aisling was assessed and put on the surgery list as a priority. Eventually, she was given a date of 5 September 2017. She had to come up to Dublin for pre-operative assessment, scans and X-rays. It is complex surgery so Aisling and her family and friends were anxious and had to arrange travel and time off work. It was cancelled by the surgeon due to personal matters. That can happen. It was a huge letdown. The operation was rescheduled for 28 November 2017. Again, she underwent pre-operative assessment, X-rays and scans. It involved getting organised, getting her bags packed and anxiety. At the eleventh hour, the operation was again cancelled due to personal matters. This was a massive letdown mentally and physically for Aisling.

To add insult to injury, to date, the consultant has made no professional contact with or arrangement to meet Aisling despite her ringing him continuously. Every time she does so, the surgeon is out due to personal matters, his secretary has not spoken to him, he is busy between Tallaght Hospital and Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin or he is out sick. In the mean time, Aisling's curve is now 70%. There is a danger that her walk, structure and organs will be affected. Her life is on hold. She gets terrible spasms of pain and often ends up in accident and emergency departments or stays in bed for days. Aisling cannot plan her future.

Let us be honest. Is this acceptable? Does the Government stand over a health service that treats patients this way? The Minister for Health knows about this case. I brought it to his attention two weeks ago and rang his PA yesterday to say that I would be raising this issue today. I am surprised he is not here in the Chamber to meet Aisling. Aisling is seeking an honest answer and expects an honest reply.

I thank the Deputy for giving some notice of this question so that I could give her a proper answer. We have been in contact with the Minister's office and he has been in contact with the hospital involved regarding this case. I am happy to meet Aisling after Leaders' Questions if that would be helpful. We received a letter from the hospital this morning. The Deputy may not have seen it yet because it has only just been sent but it does confirm that Tallaght Hospital is committed to completing the procedure in three months' time. The Deputy asked whether we could outsource this operation or whether it could be done abroad. My understanding is that it is too complex an operation for that to be done. Undertaking the procedure involves two consultant doctors because of its complexity. One of those consultants is not available for personal reasons between now and when it can be done but we have a commitment in writing today that this procedure will take place in three months' time so I hope that will give Aisling and her family some certainty. I and, I am sure, many others in this House know what it is like to work with families whose members have scoliosis. As people grow and as their spine does not develop as it should, all sorts of other complexities emerge apart from it being extremely painful. I understand the time issues here and why they are important, which is why we are trying to provide clarity for the family and Aisling.

It is important to say that the Minister introduced a paediatric scoliosis action plan last year which is delivering real results. As a result of that action plan, 321 surgeries took place in 2017 compared with 220 in 2016. This represents a 46% increase in activity. The HSE has confirmed that it will maintain a four-month target into 2018 and beyond, which is international best practice in terms of limiting waiting times for people who need clinical care and surgery. In respect of the particular case raised by the Deputy, I am glad to confirm that Tallaght Hospital is confirming and committing to undertaking the surgery in three months' time.

I also received that letter this morning at 10.38 a.m. Obviously, the hospital knew this case was going to be raised today. I do not think it is acceptable. This is an arse-covering exercise as far as I can see because the hospital had plenty of time from 29 January 2018, which was when I put in the question. The Minister for Health knew about this two weeks ago. Are we saying that patients have to wait for consultants at the consultants' call? Two operations have been cancelled while there has been no contact with the patient to date and we are talking about it taking place in three months' time. Are we saying that this consultant is the only consultant who can do this surgery? If that is the case, the HSE is in trouble. If the consultant died tomorrow, and I would not wish it on the man, what would happen then? Are we saying there is no other consultant there to do it? This is an emergency case. She is a priority. If it cannot be done here within a reasonable period of time, not three months because something else could happen in three months' time, we should bring some expert over from London or Europe to carry out this surgery. Would the Tánaiste accept waiting for four years? Would he accept his daughter walking around in severe pain for four years? It is not acceptable and the health service should be able to respond and service its patients.

The Deputy probably knows that it is not as straightforward as that, particularly with regard to very complex cases involving scoliosis. I accept that nobody should have to wait four years. I also think it is inappropriate for me to attempt to go into the medical detail of this case on the floor of the House. I am not a doctor but I am just going on the briefing I received this morning. This is a particularly complex case.

It should have been dealt with before now but it was not. We are trying to ensure that it is and that the procedure can take place as quickly as possible. Given the complexity of the case, this is not an operation that can take place using the National Treatment Purchase Fund. It needs to happen here because of its complexity. It takes two consultants, and one of them is not available. Not many consultants are capable of performing-----

Four years. That is just the process.

I have accepted that it should have happened before now.

The minute has expired.

This is a question to which I have been asked to respond today and it has been brought to the Minister's attention this week. We have acted on that. There is a commitment this morning to ensure this procedure takes place in three months' time. We are trying to provide some certainty to the family.

Can we not get somebody else to do it? The person concerned will be in the cafe at 1 p.m., if the Tánaiste wants to speak to her.