Children who cannot get the spinal surgery they need face devastating consequences, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has warned.
"The suffering and mental distress is unimaginable," she said during Leaders' Questions in the Dáil.
Ms McDonald told the Dáil that in 2017, during his time as minister for health, Taoiseach Simon Harris promised that children would not have to wait more than four months for spinal surgery.
She said that parents of those children have seen their trust shattered after all the broken promises.
"Those most desperate of cases have the longest wait," she said.
Responding, Mr Harris said he was told by the then-director of the HSE in 2017 that a plan would be put in place to ensure that no child would have to wait more than four months for surgery.
He said following this commitment, there was a significant reduction in the number of children waiting for surgery, but then the Covid-19 pandemic happened and this led to delays.
The Taoiseach said no one wants to see children in pain and he still remembers many of the children he met as health minister.
Mr Harris said 124 spinal procedures have taken place this year and the option of children getting this surgery abroad is now being looked at.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Operations paused at Temple Street last year
Many patients had their time on waiting lists extended last year after operations were paused at Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin after staff raised concerns about outcomes for patients and the clinical processes in place.
Last September, the Health Service Executive (HSE) ordered an external review into aspects of orthopaedic surgery at the hospital.
The HSE said at the time that the review arose from very serious concerns identified by Children's Health Ireland since 2022 relating to poor surgical outcomes in spinal surgery at Temple Street, plus the use of a certain spinal technique and the use of unauthorised implantable devices.
A UK expert was asked to conduct the review into spinal surgeries involving 19 children.
In February, the external review was widened to include extra cases which resulted in a delay in its completion.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly also said that month that he planned to set up a taskforce with a focus on spinal surgery waiting lists for children.
He wrote to advocacy groups inviting representatives to discuss terms of references for the taskforce.
