We should be ashamed as US leads way in speech therapy

As someone who both spent my childhood in the Republic and who is a PWS (person who stammers), I was absolutely shocked to read the opinion piece “Collecting on the streets for child’s speech, language service” (Aug 24) by Maura Adshead.

That she would have to raise funds on the streets for her child’s speech therapy is a definite black eye to the Republic of Ireland.

I have always said that every country in the world has to spend more money and devote more attention to the various speech problems faced by children. Ireland is no exception. What is ironic is that the Republic has such a great reputation throughout the world for its government-subsidised healthcare system. People here in the US cite the Irish healthcare system as a perfect role model. In fact, I know someone in the Republic who spent ten months in the hospital in 1991 and his out-of-pocket payment was the equivalent of slightly more than $300.