Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and really welcome her answer. Different areas were brought up today. The issues of assessment of needs to access educational supports or speech and therapy supports, child and adolescent healthcare supports, CAMHs, primary care, will all come up when we talk to different Ministers, no matter what way it goes, because they are all interlinked. As the Minister of State said, we need a programme or plan where everybody is on the same wavelength. I know from dealing with families that I am always ringing someone or another about a particular issue they have.

We need a plan to ensure all the areas and all the Ministers involved, whether it be the Minister for Education, the HSE or whatever, are on the same wavelength. There is still a degree of confusion. It is still an issue. I know special needs assistants. Like other speakers, we all have our areas on which we are working. This is a challenge but there is no better person than the Minister of State to do that. Unless we are all on the wavelength and are able to have access to deal with the same number of issues through one helpline or one specific Minister, we will have issues with this system in the next few years.

I welcome the €7.8 million funding provided to address the backlog of preliminary team assessments. The Minister of State indicated that the 6,500 cases on the waiting list have reduced to 1,500. Is there enough help provided for children when they are assessed which will enable them to get into the system and ensure they will not have to go for a further assessment? Timing is very important. It is important in the context of the funding that when children are assessed they get the interventions they need if that is what the assessments indicate and that there is an outcome for them. I welcome the funding. The Minister of State said another Department is involved. She is working hard to deal with the system. She mentioned figures for community healthcare organisation, CHO, 5, which is my area and I welcome those. Can she provide us with a slightly different plan, a plan B, where all of us would be able to address one particular area and get answers and not be directed from one area to another area? That is my main concern. I welcome the funding of €7.8 million. It has made a difference but there still many concerns.