I will now take Leaders' Questions under Standing Order 36. It is my pleasure to call Deputy McDonald.

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle.

The Taoiseach's treatment of children with scoliosis and spina bifida who are waiting for surgery is disgraceful. These children wait in agony for operations that can save and change their lives and the longer they wait, the worse their condition gets. It is a race against the clock and against the child's condition becoming inoperable and the prospect of permanent paralysis. There are too many children in this awful situation and today I want to speak to the Taoiseach about one of them.

Nochtann cás Harvey Sherratt arís an chaoi scannalach a chaitear le páistí le scolóis agus spina bifida orthu atá ag fanacht na mblianta fada i gcomhair obráidí. Harvey Sherratt has scoliosis and spina bifida. He is eight years old. He was born in 2016, the same year the Taoiseach was appointed Minister for Health. In 2017, when Harvey was just one year old, his parents were told that his ribs were crushing his lungs. In that same year as he became Minister, the Taoiseach promised that no child with scoliosis would wait four months for his or her operation, but he broke that promise and children waited and waited. Harvey has waited and waited, and his condition has become life-threatening.

Two years ago, the curvature of the spine was 65°. Today it is 110°. It is twisting his rib cage against his heart and lungs, making it almost impossible for him to breathe. Between October and Christmas of last year, Harvey was rushed to hospital five times - twice by ambulance and on one occasion on Christmas Day. This child desperately needs his operation yet his parents recently found out that he was silently removed from the waiting list. Stephen, Harvey's dad, told me they have been pushed to breaking point and that it is utterly debilitating for them as a family to see Harvey treated this way. They feel powerless to help him. It has completely changed their outlook on life. His mother, Gillian, said the wait and lack of treatment is killing her child.

Gillian has sent the Taoiseach numerous emails pleading for assistance to no avail. Late last night on the eve of the return of the Dáil, however, she finally got her reply: an email in which the Taoiseach makes no commitment to end the agony of their child. Of course, it was not the Taoiseach's only late-night email. Last May, he promised to meet the parents of children with scoliosis and spina bifida. He still has not met them and late last night, they too received an email inviting them to meet him in October. This means they will have waited almost six months to see him.

Each day these children spend waiting is a day too long, never mind six months. I am sure Gillian and Stephen would have no problem telling the Taoiseach how much worse Harvey has got since he made that promise to meet last May. These children need their operations. All the Taoiseach has offered is review after review with no results or improvements. Parents are stonewalled again and again, and it is simply not good enough. These children wait and wait because of Government failures, and it is the Taoiseach's job to fix it. As Taoiseach, the buck stops with him. Today, I would like him to tell Harvey's parents and the parents of all of the other children when they will finally get their operations.

Hear, hear.

I thank Deputy McDonald for raising this important issue. I will say at the outset, as the Ceann Comhairle has said to us before in this House, I am very conscious of discussing clinical details or, indeed, those of us discussing them who are not clinicians. I say that in a general sense but I say it in an important sense because Deputy McDonald asked me to provide operations when, of course, the decision to operate or not will always be a clinical matter. I am sure that is a view she would share. Politicians do not order operations. Clinicians decide when it is safe to operate. I say that to be helpful and to be respectful to the role of a clinician and to the situation of patients as well.

Let me say this, however. I am very aware of Harvey's case. I have been in direct contact with the chief executive officer of the HSE with regard to the matter and with my colleague, the Minister for Health. I hope that a further appointment can be made soon to clinically discuss the next steps in Harvey's care.

I believe that to be important. Yes, Harvey's mum wrote to me. Yes, when we received the correspondence, my office immediately looked into the case and yes, I responded with the information provided to me by the HSE. I am absolutely certain that what is vital here is a clinical consultation with the family. Yes, my office has been in contact with advocacy groups and I expect to meet them shortly. It will not just be a meeting with me; it will be a meeting with the new clinical lead for spinal surgery, the Minister for Health and the head of the HSE. I very much regret that children can experience long waiting times for treatment. I am conscious of the burden that this places on them and their families. I am very conscious, as a parent, how any of us would do anything and go to the ends of the earth if our child needed any sort of treatment or care. Yes, when I was Minister for Health, I met with the families of children awaiting scoliosis procedures on many occasions. I remember them. I remember their names and I remember their faces. I understand some of what they are going through, but none of us can fully imagine that anxiety, pain and worry. This is an ongoing issue. It is affecting young children and their families. We must do everything we can to help them. I assure Deputy McDonald that this Government will do, and is doing, everything it can to help them. I had a very good meeting with the Minister for Health and the chief executive of the HSE on this issue. I have met with the new clinical lead of the dedicated spinal unit, Mr. David Moore, and the teams. I know that absolutely everything that possibly can be done to help is being done.

Many of the issues Deputy McDonald raised in this House, which I will come to in a moment, have specifically been addressed since she previously raised them. The Minister for Health is chairing monthly meetings between the HSE and Children's Health Ireland aimed at improving waiting lists. A paediatric spinal task force has been established with an independent chair, Mark Connaughton SC. This task force consists of all stakeholders, including patient representatives and clinicians. We are committing significant additional investment to help improve services as well. It is not just talk and reviews. Here are the numbers. We have already seen a very significant increase in the number of procedures carried out in 2022 and in 2023. So far this year over 300 spinal procedures have taken place. Behind each number is a child who has gotten an operation and been successfully treated in the Irish health service. A dedicated paediatric spinal surgery management unit was established by Children's Health Ireland. That is working to drive continuous improvements and a further funding of €1.34 million was allocated following a request from the new clinical lead. This includes additional staff, a Saturday outpatient clinic and capacity for MRI scans under general anaesthetic to address waiting lists. We have also seen a number of reforms undertaken to further increase capacity for spinal surgeries, such as extending the operating theatre. A ring-fenced theatre in Crumlin is now providing additional capacity as well. Deputy McDonald has previously raised the issue, as have advocacy groups, of national outsourcing. That is why we are now using capacity in Cappagh Hospital, the Blackrock Clinic and the National Treatment Purchase Fund. We also have international arrangements in place. We will do everything we possibly can to assist and make progress in this area. Of that there is no doubt. It is not a resourcing issue or a commitment issue. However, there are clinical issues, and the views of clinicians are always important in terms of care pathways too.

The difficulty is the Taoiseach has not done everything he can to resolve this situation. Harvey's parents, Stephen and Gillian, are in the Public Gallery. They should not be here. The very fact that parents of children with scoliosis and spina bifida have to come to the Dáil in this way is a testament to failure in and of itself because their child is running out of time. That is the reality. It is not the Taoiseach's child. It is not mine either. He is Gillian's and Stephen's child. He is eight years old and he is deteriorating rapidly. He needs and deserves the operation and care that he is entitled to. It strikes me, and I am alarmed by it, frankly, that the Taoiseach is going through the motions here. He is reciting the thing he recites and has recited time and again when we have raised the issue of these very complex cases that can no longer be left on the never-never because time is running out. I want the Taoiseach to make a commitment, not to me, but to the parents of Harvey, Gillian and Stephen. They are a young couple in the Public Gallery. I want you to tell them that their child will get the operation he needs. I want you to tell him that the wait, the stonewalling, the prevarication, the spin and soundbites will end and that action will now be taken.

Hear hear.

Deputy McDonald is better than that. At least, I thought she was.

She is asking me, as a politician, to give a commitment to a child to have an operation regardless of whether a clinician believes that operation to be the best care pathway or not. That is what the Deputy is asking me to do.

The clinician.

No. Unless over the summer the Deputy became a surgeon, she is asking me to recommend clinical care pathways for an extraordinarily sick child. I want that child, Harvey, to get the best clinical care possible. I want Harvey to get all of the treatment possible. I want every child in Ireland, as does the Minister for Health, to get all of the care possible and I believe the best way to progress these matters is through clinical consultation. What I can absolutely tell Harvey's parents and tell all parents is whatever clinical care is recommended will be provided, but-----

That has not happened.

-----it is the clinical care that is recommended. I believe that to happen. When I corresponded last night with the family, that is the point I made. We are very happy for my team to talk to the family, very happy to help in every way we can but, ultimately-----

They are waiting for years.

-----a clinical decision will have to be made here and for the Deputy to suggest that there is some clinical lever that I can pull that I just could not be bothered pulling is insulting to parents of sick children.

That is not what we are saying.

The Deputy is better than that and sick children deserve better than that.

Four years as Minister for Health.

Can we have order now, please?

Stop playing politics with the issue.