Health Services Waiting Lists
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-30
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Aubrey McCarthy (IND), University of Dublin

I thank the Minister of State. I see from her reply that she is in agreement that the length of time people are left to wait is not acceptable. I thank her for agreeing with that. I often think of "a stitch in time saves nine". We need to ensure that people are getting timely support, otherwise, it reduces the effect of the help when it is given.
If a key phase of development early on in a child's life is missed, that will have an impact later on. The brain is highly adaptable in the first years of life. Early support maximises a child's potential and can dramatically alter long-term development trajectories.
I gave the example of Ali's son, who is non-verbal. Early supports are essential there. It cannot be left with the parents for a number of years. I thank the Minister of State for saying what she said but I think we can do so much better in this area and her reply outlines that.

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-30