Mr. Gareth Noble:

The answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes", there has been a huge increase in cases.

One of the reasons for that is that there is much more information where parents' needs are concerned, which is down to people like Ms Comerford and her group, who have raised awareness of this issue.

A complaints procedure is built into the Disability Act whereby if someone has not had an assessment commenced and completed within the timeframes permitted by the law, he or she can enter the complaints system. The problem we have found is that the complaints officers determine in our favour but the HSE ignores its own complaints officers. Under the Act, someone could enforce in the Circuit Court the determination of the complaints officer if it has not been carried out within three months. This means a further three months have to elapse before he or she can go near the Circuit Court. When we go to the Circuit Court, the HSE never defends its positions. It concedes on the first day. This has a financial cost. However, such costs are dwarfed when set against the financial costs that parents have to deal with while waiting, for example, paying for private assessments that often are not recognised by the HSE or educational providers and engaging private services, in particular speech and language therapy. There is also the emotional cost that Ms Comerford has spoken about so powerfully.