Given all the Taoiseach said on Leaders' Questions, I am sure he must be aware of the case of Eoin Ward, who has been on a waiting list for four years for a scoliosis operation. His mother was on "Prime Time" last night. It was probably the last place she wanted to be because her son's operation was postponed again. It had to be deferred last week because of a shortage of intensive care nurses at the time. I hope the operation will take place soon. Eoin has 94% curvature and, at 16 years of age, is in great pain. This should give the Taoiseach cause for thought and reflection before he just reels off statistics and figures about the health service. The boy's mother, Catriona, said that the pressure on the nurses in Temple Street is ridiculous, as is the number of hours they are expected to work. I refer in particular to the pressures emanating from the emergency departments in the children's hospital.

Deputy Donnelly produced figures that were presented by the Department and the HSE in regard to children's waiting times across the board, including for therapies and a range of specialties. They are quite shocking and represent a damning indictment of Government policy. That is why the HSE service plan is very worrying in terms of additional capacity in 2020. It seems to me from the remarks of the CEO and the actual plan itself that, in terms of home help hours, children services and so on, 2020 is going to be an extremely difficult year for the health services. We need a debate in the House as soon as we come back after Christmas, on 15 January, if we come back. The service plan should be number one on the agenda, in addition to what it entails for the health service and for children like Eoin Ward in 2020.

I thank the Deputy. I became aware of that case this morning. For many good reasons, I am reluctant to discuss any individual case but I understand the operation has been rescheduled for later this week. I hope it will go ahead. I had the distinct displeasure as a junior doctor of having to ring people and tell them their appointments were cancelled. I remember it well. I am aware of the kind of stress and worry cancellations cause for people who have taken time off work and packed their bags and who have psychologically prepared themselves for an operation. Where operations are cancelled, however, they are rescheduled, very often for a few days later and sometimes for the following week. It is important to state that the total cancellation rate for operations is somewhere in the region of 2% or 3%. I accept that this does not matter to a patient who is among the 2% or 3% but it is the rate. Cancellations occur for many reasons. Sometimes a bed may not be available. Sometimes key staff are not available. Staff can get sick too. Sometimes a piece of equipment may not be working. Sometimes there are infection-control issues. Where an operation is cancelled, however, efforts are always made to reschedule within days, if not the following week. Increasing capacity, such as by building our children's hospital, opening the two hospitals next year and opening three major extensions next year, and taking on more staff will help to reduce the number of cancellations to a rate below 2% or 3%. We need to be honest with people that sometimes operations will be cancelled for various reasons, but every effort will be made to reschedule them within days.