I was contacted by the mother of an 18-month-old boy during the week. When the child was six weeks old, their GP highlighted that the baby had an undescended testicle. He was referred to a consultant in County Cavan, but he needs to see a paediatric urologist in Temple Street Children's Hospital. His parents have just been told that he may get a consultation when he is five years old. That is three and a half years from now. The parents are naturally worried because if untreated, their son may encounter fertility issues later in life or a higher risk of cancer. The family feel they are being pushed towards seeking a private consultation when financially, they cannot afford to, but for the sake of the future health of their son, they feel they cannot afford to fail to take the private route. Why are children facing waiting lists? Are regular reviews carried out in our hospitals to identify where there are consultant shortages? The waiting time for this child is three and a half years. How many children are being affected by these waiting lists?

That is certainly not acceptable. If, with the permission of the family, the Deputy wants to pass on the details of the case to my office, I will follow up on it and see if there is anything that we can do. It may be that there is a shortage of consultant paediatric urologists. It is a lesser known fact in Ireland, but there are 40% more consultants in Ireland and 40% more doctors in our public health service than there were ten years ago. However, notwithstanding that, in some specialties we are finding real difficulty in recruiting people to the public service. That is resulting in some big problems. If the Deputy wants to pass on the details of the case, with the permission of the family, we will check up on it.