Mr. Gareth Noble:

I thank Deputy Ward and I very much like the hat he is wearing today. He asked whether I had had a conversation about my suggestion on a cross-party motion. I have not. Perhaps I will leave it to the committee to decide how to take the suggestion forward. It would be a powerful message to send out on foot of the Ombudsman for Children's careful study.

I have lost count of the number of theories I have in terms of speculating as to why this is not being done. It probably comes down to a lack of planning, resources and, most of all, priority. I can think of a large number of examples of situations where assessment officers themselves have told parents that assessments would not be done for two or three years and that, if they wanted to identify appropriate school placements, they would be better off taking the private route. I know of parents who have taken up two or three cleaning jobs just to pay for that assessment. In Deputy Sherlock's constituency in Cork, we have seen private service reports being done but not being recognised by the HSE. In one case I was involved in, the HSE refused to recognise a report that was conducted by a private service provider. The mum then applied for an assessment of need, there were major delays and we brought the matter to court. The HSE then commissioned the same private service provider in Cork to do the assessment on its behalf.

There is a great deal of wastage in the system. There is a lack of thinking. Most of all, there is a lack of priority. The money is there. It is just being diverted elsewhere.