Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late. I thank Dr. Muldoon for his report and the important work he does on behalf of children and their families. Being a parent is probably the scariest thing that most of us can do as it brings enormous responsibilities and none of us knows what visible or invisible challenges our children will have. The report confirms the sad reality for many parents and children, which is unacceptable. I know many parents and young children with challenges that range from not so significant to significant. What Dr. Muldoon said about a failure to focus on the child, and a failure to allocate resources and responses based on the child's need, is spot on. We need to change that if we are going to value all of our children equally. We need to organise our resources to respond to the child's needs as opposed to all of the other things that are going on around that child's life. Dr. Muldoon has given examples.

In terms of the battles I have seen parents having to undertake, it is enough to be rearing, caring for and nurturing one's child, while possibly having other children as well. These parents should not have to battle and constantly justify. The default in my part of Dublin is for many parents to borrow money from credit unions or grandparents to get a private assessment of needs, which should not be the case. That at least gives many parents an assessment of need but it is not enough because they must undertake all of the other battles that follow on from there. There is often an insidious insinuation that if people can pay for a private assessment of need, what else can they pay for? It should not be like that. The child cannot pay for anything. These are young children. As a committee, we need to forward this report to the Minister and seek a response. The report contains some strong recommendations which we should champion and progress within the Government. There is a new Minister so let us try and do that.

I wish to mention two areas that I would like the Office of the Ombudsman for Children to keep an eye on and maybe undertake some work on, if possible. One is the assessment of special educational needs. The housing needs are enormous as well, but this is not necessarily recognised or taken into account. We have a housing crisis but the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the approved housing bodies and the local authorities need to standardise. A child's diagnosis of special needs should be recognised as a qualifying housing criterion and resourced accordingly.

I have come across a number of cases in which there has been a real gap in the progression of care and response to the needs of children as they have become teenagers, young adults and then adults. While I appreciate that Dr. Muldoon is the Ombudsman for Children, I believe it is worthwhile to flag this gap with him. I ask him to come back to the committee to debate this issue at a future date. I am experiencing quite a number of families who have young adults now but once a child reaches 16, 17 and 18 years of age, and then reaching their 20s, there is a bit of a gap. Their parents and families are having to start the process all over again. That introduces a whole new stress and disruption for the individual child and the family. I thank Dr. Muldoon for all the work he is doing and for his report.