Hospital Services Dail Éireann — 2026-07-01 ============================================================ Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (FG), Dún Laoghaire I certainly will, and I could not agree with the Deputy more regarding the importance of resolving and identifying the issue and of making sure that children are getting the diagnostic scans they need. I could also not agree more with him regarding the importance of investing in paediatric care outside of Dublin. That is very important, and it is important to articulate it here this morning. I am in agreement with the Deputy in every possible way in relation to this matter. I just want to figure out exactly what is going on and how this has come to be. I should have said earlier that there are 269 children currently waiting for an MRI under general anaesthesia at CUH. Having an MRI under general anaesthesia requires a nurse and an anaesthetist as well as a radiologist. It is a more complicated team. I am aware that the south west has recruited ahead of everyone else. If there is a challenge in terms of where the resources are, it is one we have to figure out. Certainly, that area has recruited more than anybody else, so there should not be this issue. It may be that deployment is more the issue than availability. It is for me to figure that out and to get back to the Deputy. He is correct to raise the issue here today because we do not want children discriminated against in this way. CUH has invested in a Smileyscope distraction system, which works to develop children's tolerance - where possible; it is not always possible - of MRI without anaesthetic. Instead of sedating children, two play therapists distract and keep them occupied during the MRI. We do not want to have to sedate children where it is possible to avoid it. Eight children have successfully completed the MRI through that approach without the need for general anaesthetic. I thank the Deputy for raising this really important issue for children's care, including as it relates to resource deployment. I assure him that I will figure out what is going on and get back to him on it. --- 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/dail/2026-07-01/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:06+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-01