Averil Power (Fianna Fail)
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I thank Mr. Healy and Ms Griffin for their opening remarks. I thank Teresa in particular for being very up-front in her presentation about the impact of this lack of services on children. It is totally unacceptable that whether a child receives a vital service is dependent on where he or she lives. This is very unfair to the children concerned. We know that children with special needs need to receive appropriate interventions as early as possible, yet in some parts of the country this early intervention is non-existent. In my area of Dublin bay north and in the broader north Dublin area, the waiting list for early intervention - the list to get on a list to be considered for a service - closed in November 2012. No matter how serious the child's need, he or she cannot even get on a waiting list. This is a really shocking and very unfair situation.

The HSE presentation referred in detail to reconfiguration of services, and we all share its vision as to what services should be provided in an ideal world, but in the meantime, the HSE has been talking about this since 2011. I have tabled this issue a number of times in the Seanad over the past three years and my colleagues in the Dáil have also raised the issue in that House. Every time I have raised the issue I have heard the same reply as today - that services are being reconfigured. That is cold comfort to the children who have been unable to get any service in the meantime. I support Ms Griffin, who is representing the National Council for Special Education, in her call that in the interim something needs to be done. I agree that reconfiguration of services should be pursued, but in the meantime the resources need to be available. It sounds as if this talk of reconfiguration is being used as an excuse for not providing resources and in my view this is very unfair.

The principal of St. Joseph's in Fairview planned to speak to the committee today but she is unable to attend due to illness. I will make some of the points she intended to present. St. Joseph's is a mainstream school with a number of special classes which were provided on the promise of appropriate health and educational resources. The educational resources are in place. Originally, all the children in the special classes were being provided with speech and language and occupational therapy services from Beechpark, but because of cuts imposed in recent years, Beechpark has not taken on any new children. The current situation was referred to by the National Council for Special Education in that only half the children in the class are receiving a health service, based on an arbitrary decision depending on when they joined the school. This is very unfair to the children concerned and it has also caused health and safety risks for other students and for the staff because the behaviour of some of these children who are not getting the services they need has deteriorated to the point where a number of serious incidents have occurred when children have become out of control in the classroom and attacked teachers. The principal rang me one day in tears as a result of the latest incident. She said she did not want to be forced to expel primary schoolchildren because she wants to be able to look after them and to provide them with the service they need, but she is unable to do so. She is at the end of her tether as a result of the impact of the lack of services on her children.

When will the reconfiguration of services be completed? In north Dublin, three years on, we are still talking about a consultation process. In the meantime, children who started three years ago have now missed out during a vital part of their young lives which they will never get back. I ask the HSE to provide the resources for a service which can then be reconfigured later as needs be to provide a consistent service in all geographical areas in the country. The ideal situation would be for the health services to be provided on the same basis as educational provision. The Department of Education and Skills made an arrangement years ago with the Department of Finance to ensure that teachers and special needs assistants would be provided when a special class was initiated. The Department does not need to renegotiate with the Department of Finance for every new class because that agreement is in place. This should be the case in the provision of the health service but it is not. Has the HSE requested it in budget discussions? Will it look for it? Does the HSE agree that this would be a better solution to these problems?