We have just 21 minutes so I ask Members to keep to the time limits. I call Deputy McDonald.

Tomorrow, 13-year-old Cara Darmody from Tipperary will again protest outside the Dáil. It is not her first time. She has been campaigning for several years now. Her key demand is that the Government gives a clear date as to when the State will comply with the Disability Act 2005 which, as the Taoiseach knows, sets out that children with disabilities are legally entitled to an assessment of needs within six months. In the past seven years we had two Ministers for Health, namely, the Taoiseach himself, and the current Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and in that time, assessment waiting lists have more than trebled. They have ballooned from 4,000 to 15,000. Such long waiting times have serious consequences for children because early intervention is crucial. Will the Taoiseach answer Cara's question? When will the Government abide by the law and ensure that every child requiring an assessment of needs gets that assessment within six months, as is his or her legal entitlement?

I met Cara and her father, Mark, briefly this morning when I came back from Brussels. I met them in the courtyard of Government Buildings before the Cabinet meeting. I will formally and properly meet Cara this week with, I hope, other relevant Ministers as well. I have here her letter, which she gave me this morning. She is an incredible young person. We have taken a number of steps already in relation to assessments of needs since I became Taoiseach, including €12 million in funding, which will result in an extra 4,500 assessments of need. I will meet Cara. She has a number of issues that she wants to discuss. I hope to meet her either tomorrow or on Thursday.

When will the health service recruitment ban be lifted? It is affecting real people, especially the over-75s. It is June, yet, yesterday morning 33 people were on trolleys in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. That number, unfortunately, has repeated itself today. There are 43 in Cork today and 34 in Galway, which is unprecedented for June. This is because these hospitals are not allowed to recruit the nurses who have actually been cleared to take up roles in hospitals such as Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. There is a deficit of 71 whole-time equivalent nursing professionals in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. That is 71 fewer nurses than there should be. Management, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and SIPTU are firefighting to support patients and to support stricken staff.

Bernard Gloster, the head of the HSE, is in the media today talking up the possibility of the removal of the recruitment ban and saying that it will be lifted soon. When will the HSE recruitment ban be lifted?

I thank Deputy Nash. We are having a meeting of the Cabinet committee on health in early July, I believe, and I look forward to seeing whether we can bring progress to that issue of the pay and numbers strategy there because discussions are ongoing between the HSE and the Department of Health. However, there is broad agreement in relation to the pay and numbers strategy. The Minister has approved the allocation of the 2024 new development posts, along with the roll-out of safe staffing through the conversion of 418 agency staff. I can get specific figures in relation to the Deputy's local hospital.