Bradley is a 15-year-old boy from my constituency of Meath who is waiting for an urgent orthodontist appointment in Navan, and he is not the only one. Bradley suffers from a severe jawbone condition that requires urgent uninterrupted orthodontic care. For over two years he has endured immense pain, endless procedural cycles and days where he could not even eat solid food. Last October was a milestone when his top brace went on but then the HSE system failed him. His orthodontist went out on unexpected leave and no replacement was provided. When a critical appliance broke in his mouth in July, it took two weeks just to get a cursory glance, only to be told no one else would touch his case. Bradley has now gone seven months without treatment. He is sitting right now with loose braces and useless blocks in his mouth. If his treatment backtracks, he faces a traumatic, preventable operation to break both of his jawbones. Can the Tánaiste give me a cast-iron guarantee that Bradley and other children in Meath will urgently be provided with the orthodontist services they badly need? Both the Tánaiste and I know this is not right.

I thank Deputy Guirke for raising this issue. I am sorry to hear what Bradley and his family are enduring. I am not going to comment into the record of the Dáil on an individual case on which I do not have all of the information but the Deputy is entirely right to highlight the issue in relation to the orthodontic system and care in his constituency. On foot of him raising it, I will send a transcript of what he said, plus a broader query, to the Minister for Health and to the HSE and ask that they come back to the Deputy directly.