An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2020-10-06
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Denis Naughten (IND), Roscommon-Galway

Page 49 of the programme for Government commits to recruit additional front-line allied health professionals such as occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech therapists and so forth. Is there any chance the Government could get the existing front-line therapy staff back to work to deal with the four-year waiting list, instead of continuing to allow them to work at desks as contact tracers? It is seven months since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Can the Government not find ways to provide these vital therapy services to children across the country? As one parent put it, "I am watching my son regress before my eyes and there is nothing that I can do to stop it." The Taoiseach can do something to stop it. I ask him to direct the HSE to use back-office staff to make telephone calls to find out if somebody has been to the pub or the restaurant, and let the therapists treat our children.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2020-10-06/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:38+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-10-06