Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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We are talking a lot about assessments here. I am in favour of reviewing the Disability Act 2005 and putting services and therapies on a statutory footing but am concerned that the same problems are going to occur as with the assessments of need because we do not have enough staff. In that context, there will be more court cases.

A lot of parents look for an assessment of need which will give a diagnosis. They do not just want an assessment of need in order to access the services that a child needs but to get a diagnosis so that the child can get an appropriate school place. The Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities would say that children do not need a diagnosis or even an assessment of need and that assessment should be an ongoing process whereby as the child changes, his or her needs are assessed and met. However, the Minister of State with responsibility for special education would say that a child absolutely needs a diagnosis. We all know there are not enough school places and if parents want an appropriate school place for a child that they feel will not be sufficiently supported in mainstream education, then they need a diagnosis. Therein lies the problem - we have two Departments that are not working together to come up with an answer. If the requirement for an assessment of need, the end result of which is a diagnosis which is needed for a school place, was removed, would that relieve some of the pressure? Is there a need for the assessment of need process in every single case? We hear that the average time required for such assessments is 29 hours. That is only an average figure, which means that some assessments can take even longer. I totally accept that the preliminary team assessments were totally insufficient and were just a way of putting people on different lists but is a full assessment of need required in all cases?