Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A question was asked about the complaints and the 14-month delay. I might not have answered the question from Deputy Costello but he was addressing the same point. To be honest I have met with the HSE several times about this.

Where there was a reconfiguration of services and an assessment going through primary care and network disability teams, it baffled me how four years or 40 months was put on letters they wrote. It flew in the face of where we were going that such letters were written when we had not actually reconfigured or done our assessment. To be quite honest, my annoyance is also due to the fact that we had parents who might not have received an intervention in a long number of months as we were still in the middle of a pandemic, but I was actively recruiting for posts. I have funding for 100 posts this year. Some 100 people were recruited last year for posts that were part of contact tracing and swabbing; they are only coming into position now. My recruitment is taking place and we still have a reconfiguration taking place. I have seen the letters telling parents it could be 40 or 46 months in different areas around Dublin. I am in continuous engagement with the HSE on that and have been assured that those letters are not to continue until we understand exactly what the service need is in the various community healthcare organisation, CHO, areas.

We have put a time limit on the service statement as well. The HSE will be back to us very soon so I can answer the question about what exactly that time length will be. I will not accept that 40 months is good enough; it is not. It is not good enough either that a person is aged out at six years. PDS is there so someone does not fall off a system and go back in again at the end of the queue. That will be stopped. That is why PDS is happening, but at the same time we need to find out what is an acceptable timeline. To be honest, if a child is diagnosed with a need for speech and language therapy and is told he or she will not get it for four years that is not good enough. We cannot stand over that as Oireachtas Members, or in the programme for Government or as a State.