Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I confirm that I am in Leinster House. As today's first speaker, I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their submission and time. The proposed progressing disability services programme is positive in that services will no longer be accessed through separate organisations and access will be based on children's needs as opposed to their diagnoses. This has been a recurring issue in my constituency of County Clare. A number of distressed parents have been in contact with my office about a lack of access to services as they have not yet received an assessment of need for their children, which has caused great difficulties for children and families.

I am eager for more definitive information about the progressing disability services programme's roll-out. The programme was established in 2010. We know from the submission that not all of the required children's disability network teams have been established. That concerns me. Is there a timeline for when all children's disability network teams will be configured and in place? I can see how families and school settings may be nervous about the implementation of this programme as seems there was no foresight in evidence recently. We saw plans to remove on-site services, which would impact negatively on these children. For this reason, there is not much confidence among parents. Schools will need significant assurances from the HSE that the level of on-site services for special schools will not be reduced. How does the HSE plan to manage the progressing disability services programme? Will on-site services stay in place during a transition period? What is the long-term goal? How are schools with no on-site services being assessed with regard to their service needs?