Dr. Niall Muldoon:

With regard to complaints, education always provides the biggest number, followed by social care and Tusla issues. Within education, special needs is a big part. The best indication is the fact that we wrote this report. We had so many complaints coming in consistently from families who had complained to the HSE and got nothing back. They went to Your service your say and the system did not work for them or provide them with any information. We would get involved but our problem is we cannot take a complaint based on lack of resources because that is a separation of powers. We took the step of creating the Unmet Needs report to highlight the damage to children's rights in the widest sense by the way the service has been continuing and the gaps in the waiting lists. That is an indication that this is an important piece for us.

As I said in my opening statement, our latest two strategic plans have had disability at the centre. It is important to us to try to make progress with this. That is why we are asking what plan is in place and what the Government needs to provide to the HSE to make this happen. I am not worried about blame, where it happened or what has gone wrong but about how we ensure these 10,000 children looking for AONs continuously are provided with services as quickly as possible. That plan does not seem to be forthcoming, or is not clear to me anyway. It is a crucial part of the work we do. We have signed up to the UNCRPD. We need to get there quicker than the pace we are going at.