TÁNAISTE MICHEÁL MARTIN has said it is clear that the majority of the €19 million fund aimed at reducing children’s spinal surgery waiting list was not used for the purpose intended by government.
In 2022, the Minister of Health Stephen Donnelly allocated an additional 19 million euros to Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) with the main aim of reducing waiting lists for child orthopaedic surgeries, among other services.
However, it has since emerged that the funding was used more broadly by CHI.
Donnelly allocated the funding as part of an ambition that no child would be waiting longer than four months for scoliosis surgery.
It came after a similar pledge in 2017 when his predecessor in the role Simon Harris, now Taoiseach, set the four-month target.
During Leaders’ Questions, Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said the promise had been “broken over and over again”.
“Immediately, both parents and patient advocates had serious concerns that Children’s Health Ireland intended to spend this money differently from the purposes that was allocated to them.”
He said parents raised their concerns multiple times, including in March 2022 – within weeks of the funding being announced.
“Shockingly, it took until February of this year for the Minister for Health to order an audit,” said Doherty.
The Tánaiste said it was not possible to audit the use of millions of euros for child scoliosis services in the immediate weeks after it was allocated.
In an interview with The Journal last December, Donnelly said he was “not satisfied” with the answers from CHI as to why the resources the government funded and allocated have not brought down the waiting list numbers.
Speaking in the Dáil today, Martin said CHI informed the minister that its plan would mean that by the end of 2022 the number of children waiting over four months would be reduced to zero.
“That is what CHI said to the minister and the minister funded the plan on that basis. The investment did result in an increase in the number of surgeries performed but the reduction in the waiting list was modest and was nowhere near what was promised,” said the Tánaiste.
Donnelly did engage on the matter in 2023, said the Tánaiste.
“He did not ignore the issue but engaged directly with spinal surgeons and with advocacy groups. It became clear that the additional resources of €19 million had been allocated far wider than just children’s spinal, or even children’s orthopaedic, services,” said Martin.
The health minister said at the end of last year, he sought assurances from CHI via his department.
“We didn’t get them. I sought assurances via the board of CHI. We didn’t get them. And I then took the unprecedented step of instructing the chief executive the HSE to send in the HSE internal auditors,” said Donnelly.
“It is an absolute scandal. Where is the accountability?” Doherty asked, stating that children were being “forced to suffer in agony without any light at the end of the tunnel” as he accused the health minister of ignoring their pleas.
“These patients, these advocates, these parents reached out to Minister Donnelly and his office over and over and over and over again.
“They told him that this money wasn’t going to be spent on the promise that he gave them and their children. They pleaded with him to investigate this matter two years ago,” said the Sinn Féin deputy.
The Tanaiste said the government’s commitment “is to do everything we possibly can as quickly as we can to reduce waiting lists for children waiting for scoliosis operations”.
Doherty said the within weeks of the money being allocated, the parents and the advocates were telling the minister’s office that this money was not going where it is needed.
“They were begging them to investigate this,” said Doherty, accusing the minister of “doing nothing”.
“Because two years later, you still don’t know where this money is gone,” said Doherty.
Donnelly described the remarks from the Sinn Fein benches as “nonsense” and “totally disingenuous”, adding that he had met families many times.
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