Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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I was contacted by a parent and activist in the Dublin 12 area who argues that families should be given a grant to access services privately. Even though there are long waiting lists for private services and assessments of need, if and when cancellations come up, parents could access those services if they had a grant.

Would such an interim measure solve some of the problems around access to services or assessments?

Another important point is that the HSE has not been held to account. While I do not want to drag the executive down, it did not do things right in this area in the past, it must be held to account for that and we must make sure it does not happen again. That is the most important point. Our guests are calling for consultation, pathways and so on. It cannot be done as it was done with the initial assessments two years ago.