Ms Mary O'Kelly:

I thank Deputy Buckley for the question. We are trying to differentiate between a legislative piece and a local operational piece. I am not very familiar with that case but that family may already be linked in with the service. If not, their local primary care centre is a huge point of contact and should be able to signpost them. Notwithstanding the fact that we have a dearth of clinicians, within primary care and disabilities there are occupational therapists who assess children with regard to technology for the school environment. They do not need to go through the legislative assessment of need process to gain that. Also, in many areas of the country, they are able to self-refer and do not need to go through a GP. The first question for a family is to ask whether they are already known to a service. It is likely that they may be.