Parents take protest to Cabinet as paediatric crisis deepens

HUNDREDS of angry parents are planning to picket the Government’s Cabinet meeting in Cork this morning as paediatric services for thousands of special needs children face collapse.

The protest follows yesterday’s revelation that the consultant paediatrician, who treats severely disabled children in the south, is to quit his job in October and move to Dublin.

Dr David Coghlan, who looks after the acute needs of up to 2,000 children - and onward referrals for up to 10,000 children in need of developmental therapies - blamed the failure of the Health Service Executive (HSE) Southern Area to properly resource his clinics for his decision.