David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will address two more quick issues before finishing up, if I may. I spoke earlier about children waiting for access to speech and language therapy and occupational therapy. I am talking about children with special needs and disabilities. If we go back to the Disability Act 2005, there are two issues. There is the assessment of need on the one hand and the provision of services on the other. I have done a bit of work on this area. I got the full breakdown of how long children are waiting for access to services.

We all accept it is horrific. We do not have enough therapists. This again goes back to workforce planning. Section 13 of the Act states there should be a report that specifies the aggregate needs in all of the assessment reports. It states that report should specify the number of persons for whom services were identified in assessment reports but where they have not received services. It states such a report would be submitted to the Minister six months after the end of each year. It would have the aggregate needs identified in the assessment reports. The logic of it is that it would enable the Minister to plan. How many such reports have been submitted since 2005 when the Bill was enacted?