Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Kerry had a consultation process also. There was widespread consultation with parents of the children involved. Everyone was happy to move forward with the reconfiguration process but, unfortunately, what people got was certainly not what they were told they would get during the consultation process. Obviously, there is no point in having a consultation process and informing parents of the proposed outcome if it is not going to be followed through.

When the problems first arose in Kerry, there was not a good system of feedback and parents did not feel empowered to highlight the problems and try to work through them. I am thankful that in the past two months, there has been a process in place to allow for a regular meeting with representatives of the HSE to address the problems that arise.

From the Kerry experience, one of the main problems is that when somebody goes out sick, nobody replaces him. It is a huge problem. If the driver of a train to Kerry is sick, somebody else replaces him and drives the train. However, if one member of staff is not able to provide a therapy service for a child with special needs who desperately needs it, that child must go without. That is not acceptable at all. Will it be addressed? Will we actually see flexibility in the system so that, rather than shutting off services, a replacement member of staff will be able to do the job that is necessary at the front line?