Ms Aisling Byrne:

As I said, the assessment of need is the only legal avenue left. We see thousands of families every day who are crying out for services and help. I watched the previous meeting of the committee. The fact is Government officials think the CDNTs are working when they are not. I can speak from personal experience. I have two children on the autism spectrum, one of whom is 16. He was assessed 13 years ago. Even back then, we waited a long time and our assessment of need was outsourced. In those years my son has had no psychological input. Everything I have paid for, I have paid for privately. There are parents crying out that they have had the exact same experience. They have had no input from the services. I am very fortunate that I have linked in with the CDNT. We had our first individual family service plan meeting. My son's needs and goals were set out, and no review date was given when it should have been. He had a 15-minute meeting with an occupational therapist who has now left the service and is gone, so we are back to square one. There are parents who are being attacked daily in their homes by their children. I am one of those parents. I have cried out for help and supports and I have got none. CDNTs are complex. A child will not fit into one box either. There are a lot of severe and complex cases. We know of parents who have been killed by their children. That is the sad reality. For Government officials to sit there and say that CDNTs are working, to flare it up and say it is a brilliant service when it is not, is wrong. It is absolutely not working and we need to do better. We are at complete crisis point. I have never seen it as bad, and I have been working in the disability sector for 21 years. I have never seen it as bad as it is now.