When the Taoiseach resumed his current role in December he announced that a unit would be set up within his Department to focus on reducing child poverty and improving well-being in order to make Ireland the best country in Europe in which to be a child. I believe it would help if we started by improving access to necessary therapies through primary care services, including occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy. We have all seen the crisis in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, CAMHS, exposed by the Mental Health Commission report, but the reality is that all services for children are in crisis. Two of the most significant battles faced by parents of children with a disability relate to getting a diagnosis and after that long, tortuous process, the second struggle is the inaccessibility of regular supports. Mary and her son, David, who is in fourth class, are one example. The family had to go privately to secure a diagnosis because of the current waiting lists for a referral for CAMHS, occupational therapy referral and an educational psychological assessment. They have been forced down this road, borrowing from grandparents, because otherwise David would be in secondary school by the time he would get access to an appointment under the current public health system due to the horrendous waiting lists. His mum has now been advised that David is likely to need physiotherapy in a couple of years to assist him with his condition. Given the current waiting list this means that he needs to be put on the waiting list now in a pre-emptive move to ensure that he can have access to the services when he needs them.

However, what about the children whose parents or grandparents cannot pay for such interventions? They are at the mercy of the ever-growing public waiting lists. The State is failing in its obligation to provide the early intervention and support that these children urgently need.

Investing in our children at a young age makes much more sense and allows them to reach their full potential and actively contribute to our society. We need to stop these children being effectively hidden away in a corner. In the past, that hiding may have been physical; now it is emotional as their potential wastes away while they wait and wait for access to services. These are the essential services that we must provide to help these children reach their full potential. We should provide these services as a fundamental right for all our children and I urge the Taoiseach to prioritise this within the new unit in his Department.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. On behalf of the Government, I want to acknowledge that we have a very real problem when it comes to children being able to access the therapies, assessments, treatment and counselling they need. Children are being let down.

It is not so much a matter of money or political will; both are there in abundance. There is a real difficulty in recruiting, training and retaining staff, as well as organising services in such a way that children and their needs are prioritised. Like the Deputy, I meet parents all the time who tell me about their struggles and the fights they have to go through to get the treatments, therapies and assessments their children need. It is impossible to justify because it cannot be justified. It will be part of the work programme of the child poverty and wellbeing unit being established in my Department.

As I mentioned, we are committed to reducing waiting lists. For that reason, we are increasing capacity and reforming models of care to ensure care is provided in a more timely way across all age groups. One measure being advanced at the moment is the development of community healthcare networks as part of the enhanced community care programme. Almost €200 million was provided in this year's budget to make that happen. The investment includes the development of primary care teams within 96 new community healthcare networks. Some 94 of these have been established and each serves a population of roughly 50,000. Approximately 3,500 extra staff will be recruited to make this happen. Of these, it is expected approximately 2,000 will be primary care teams, with the rest being specialist and intervention teams.

There is flexibility within the overall budget. It is estimated that €100 million of this will go into primary care. To date, 2,500 staff have been recruited or are at an advanced stage of the recruitment process as part of the programme. Furthermore, children and young people continue to be seen in primary care through specific investments, including the primary care psychology waiting list initiative and other waiting list initiatives the Government is funding.

Late last year, 436 children in County Galway were waiting for a physiotherapy appointment, with the longest waiting time being more than three years. In County Roscommon, a further 95 children were waiting for physiotherapy, with the longest waiting time being almost one year. The picture is just as bleak for occupational therapy, where 540 children are waiting for an appointment in Galway, with wait times of more than a year in some cases. A further 115 children in County Roscommon are waiting for occupational therapy appointments, some of whom have been waiting for more than a year. Waiting lists for speech and language therapy services in Roscommon range from seven to 11 months for high-priority patients and for up to 18 months for lower-priority patients. The waiting lists are continuing to grow and our children are being left behind as a result. We must address this issue now.

The figures I have from the HSE and Department of Health indicate that we are seeing a levelling off in waiting lists. There has been an 18% reduction in those waiting for initial speech and language therapy treatment according to the latest available data. The latest available data from October indicates a small reduction in physiotherapy waiting lists of approximately 3% and approximately 6% for occupational therapy. That is pretty minor in terms of reductions in waiting lists and is not a satisfactory situation.

As I said, there is no lack of political will or money; both are in abundance.

The challenge we face is in organising the services and also in ensuring that we can train, recruit and retain the right number of staff. It is very much a priority stream of work for the Government at the moment.