Editorial: Failings on children’s health are shameful - Kilkenny Live

It is over eight years since the then Minister for Health (now soon-to-be Taoiseach once again) Simon Harris pledged that no child with scoliosis or spina bifida would have to wait more than four months for surgery.

To say this promise has gone unfulfilled would be an understatement. Local TD John McGuinness is right to highlight the preposterous waiting lists for child spinal surgeries, which are lengthening, in spite of public pressure and families left in limbo.

It’s awful to read of a young Kilkenny child who was not put forward for surgery abroad despite foreign spinal surgeons visiting Children’s Health Ireland twice over the course of four months. The lack of action has caused the child’s condition to deteriorate. Now, things have got much worse, and a section of the spine can no longer be addressed by surgery.

The Government must be held to account on this matter, and indeed, the wider issue of children’s health services. Just prior to Christmas, following a meeting with local families from the Down Syndrome Kilkenny Branch, the same local TD —John McGuinness — raised the case of people in Kilkenny going long without Speech and Language Therapy (SLT). Those families deserve to be have adequate services also.

As the overblown, over-budget and long over-deadline saga of the National Children’s Hospital continues to run unchecked, it is clear that Ireland is letting down the health and welfare of its young people once again.

IBAL Results
While it’s positive to see Kilkenny again deemed ‘clean’ in the latest Irish Businesses Against Litter (IBAL) report, it’s concerning to see the city’s downward trajectory.

In recent years, Kilkenny has gone from number one, to second place, to 16th and now 17th. Kilkenny County Council, local businesses and voluntary groups and residents do a lot of positive work to keep everything clean and tidy. Hopefully, the next IBAL survey and the annual Tidy Towns report will reflect these efforts.