West Waterford councillor John Pratt has raised serious concerns about a vacant speech and language therapy post in Dungarvan, saying a young child has been left without access to vital services since early April.

Speaking to WLR, Councillor Pratt said the child had been attending the primary care unit and had shown clear improvement during therapy, but has not been seen in months due to the staffing gap.

He said the situation is causing significant distress for the family involved, and warned that they have still not been given a timeframe for when services will resume, “I was contacted probably four to six weeks ago by a family whose child was accessing the speech and language therapy in the primary care unit in Dungarvan but unfortunately, since early April, this young fella – 7, turning 8 soon – hasn’t been able to access that service.”

Councillor Pratt is calling for urgent action to fill the vacancy and restore full services at the primary care unit, stressing that no child should be left without the support they need,

“I’m just coming on here hoping that we can keep the pressure on and ensure that these positions can be filled in our area, you know, the primary care unit in Dungarvan.”

“No child should be left without this service. My understanding is, like, you have the people that are in the service, there’s probably a number of kids out there who are finding it, their parents are finding it difficult to get their kids even into the service in the first place.”