The crisis in primary care services for young people was back in the news again this week. It took persistent follow-up to parliamentary questions from me earlier this year to reveal its scale. The fact is that children throughout the country were routinely waiting several and sometimes many years, not just for psychology but for occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy. The longest wait in Dublin North-West for psychology has reduced from 13.5 years to ten years in recent months. It is an incredible picture of Government failure to engage in proper workforce planning and recruitment of necessary staff. The crisis has been drastically worsened by the HSE recruitment embargo in 2023 and 2024 and similar restrictions since, through the Government's pay and numbers strategy, a reality the Taoiseach previously denied in Leaders’ Questions. This primary care crisis is affecting all disciplines in all areas of the country, despite Simon Harris’ contention in mid-2024 that it was isolated to psychology services in Cork and Kerry. Where is the workforce planning and the comprehensive recruitment drive to address it?

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Not in these services.

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No.

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The Taoiseach is not-----

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Not in primary care.

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