David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to come back to something that the head of the HSE, Mr. Reid, said in his opening statement. He said that of the children who got this preliminary team assessment, 54% of them required a multidisciplinary team assessment. He went on to say that this does not delay their access to health services. That is not correct. In theory it might be correct, but the reality is different.

I tabled a parliamentary question to ask the Minister for Health the number of children who had an assessment of needs carried out under the Act to whom services identified in the assessment report had not been provided. The response received, again from people who are participating in this meeting, was that with regard to the number of children who had an assessment of needs carried out under the Disability Act to whom services identified in the assessment report have not been provided, this information is not captured or generated from the assessment of needs database.

In respect of children who have had an assessment carried out and received the service statement where their health and education needs were identified, representatives of the HSE say they cannot tell us how many children received any services at all because the HSE's database is not working, is out of date and cannot be updated. It is a shambles. It should fill everybody in the room with shame. The HSE representatives should meet the parents I am meeting and have met in recent months. They are infuriated that their children are not getting the services that they need.

In a recent High Court judgment on preliminary team assessments, the judge said that in her view the assessment officers had led into error of law in the discharge of their statutory functions under Part 2 of the Act. Again, she was saying that the HSE was in breach of the law. Does Mr. Reid accept that following that High Court judgment the HSE was found to be in breach of the law?