I apologise to An Leas Cheann-Comhairle for the roaring and shouting of my colleagues from Kerry. I can assure him that it is not the way all-----

I will deal with that issue in my own good time.

-----Kerry Deputies behave. In the case of the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Griffin, it was a most uncharacteristic outburst.

The Minister of State has apologised.

In the case of Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, what else would we expect?

I missed that.

Under the programme for Government and the promise to-----

The clock is ticking. The Deputy should use his time.

-----improve the healthcare available to our citizens, can I ask the Taoiseach, and perhaps the Minister for Health, if there are any plans to remove the in loco parentis clause for parents receiving private home care packages? This clause is causing great hardship and is unworkable.

I thank Deputy Brassil for the calm manner in which he raises issues. This is an important matter and it is causing concern for many parents. The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, is engaging with the HSE on this matter and I will ask him to provide the Deputy with an update directly.

On the answer to the Kerry problem here, perhaps a special hour every week for the Kerry Members on their own would answer the problem.

On page 105 of the programme for Government there is a commitment to ensuring that "every young person is enabled to reach their full potential". Juvenile arthritis is holding back up to 1,500 young Irish people from leading full and vibrant lives. I understand that the World Health Organization recommends six rheumatologists for a population of 4.7 million but in Ireland, we only have two. The Irish Children's Arthritis Network is a volunteer charity supporting children who are living with juvenile idiopathic arthritis and their families in Ireland. The charity informs me there were 793 children waiting to see a consultant rheumatologist as 2017 drew to a close. It also revealed that the national average waiting time in 2014 was 125 days, which had increased by 2016 to 169 days. I understand that some children have had to wait for up to three years for service. By international averages we should have six rheumatologists for 4.7 million, but we only have two. We should have at least six.

There are currently two consultant rheumatologists who care for children with juvenile chronic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and similar conditions. They have been relieved of their duties to look after adult patients in order that they can now concentrate full-time on paediatric patients. The Deputy is quite correct. The international guidelines suggest that we should have six full-time consultant paediatric rheumatologists. We now only have two. It is intended as part of the HSE service plan for next year to approve the appointment of a third and then move on from there. We will not get four in a year, unfortunately.