Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister and the Minister of State. It is great to see that the two Departments have merged since 1 March. I believe the merger was vitally important. All of us have seen the great challenges within the system. I see families who come into my clinics on a daily basis who are so upset, as do all of us here. I can honestly say that. It has got to a stage now that although we are constantly trying to work with everybody, we are not getting any answers. My theme today for both Ministers is communication and lack of information. For me, that is the biggest issue. I will explain that in a moment.

I went through both of the ministerial statements. I welcome them. I am delighted with them. I can truthfully say that from working with both Ministers, they are very committed and they are doing their best. A lot of challenges have come with their Ministry, going back a good few years.

One question for the Minister relates to the national disability strategy. He stated:

More broadly, the development of a new national disability strategy during 2023, a process that will be facilitated and steered by my Department, provides an opportunity to develop a framework for transformative change and a whole-of-government shift to accelerating UNCRPD delivery. We will lead this process and in doing so we will prioritise the participation of people with disabilities and their representative organisations.

The Minister might provide more information on that. Some of the organisations I have been speaking to had no issues, but others felt there was not enough communication with all the different agencies. I am not saying that is the case, but what is the timescale for the strategy and what can we do in regard to it?

I will now turn to the Minister of State. I want to get more information on a point she made. She stated:

I am continuing to provide supports to keep people in their homes for as long as possible and out of residential care. The funding I have provided will deliver an additional 70,370 personal assistant hours.

There are huge challenges in the system in that regard. I welcome the Minister of State's statement, but I wonder if she would provide more information on that and how she intends to do it.

What is being done to bolster the staff members on CDNTs? That is a major issue for me. What recruitment initiatives are being pursued? What is the Minister of State's plan to address the backlog for assessments of need? I spoke about this today. As the Minister of State knows, Carlow-Kilkenny is my area. My understanding at the moment is that there is no occupational therapist for children in Carlow at the moment. The waiting list for the public service is incredibly long. The speech and language CDNT assessments are working from referrals given in 2019. These children and families are under major pressure. This is what we face every day. I know from speaking to families that their children are going into mainstream school in September, but they are waiting for assessment. They cannot get the assessment to get their child assessed to see if they will be going into mainstream school or if they will not. That has become a huge issue. Lots of people have come to me with cases in recent weeks. To be honest, I am very worried about this. This is the reason I spoke about communication and information. My understanding, which is open to correction, is that because there is funding, if a family with a child is waiting so long to get a child assessed, they can look at going privately and the Department will refund them. This came up recently at a meeting I attended. I am not sure, but that is my understanding of it. I need to get that clarified. I spoke to another Member who said they know of a case where this was done. What are we doing to alleviate the situation while there is great pressure on waiting lists in Carlow?

There is another issue I am concerned about. I welcome the budget of €5.9 billion. It is also welcome that when we come in here, much of the time we are told there is funding, but a lot of recruitment is required. I am beginning to wonder about the different Departments. When I go to a service in my area, I say the funding is available and the Minister is working on it and the service will get it. However, when I go to the HSE, I am told that it did not get the funding. I explain that I got a commitment, and the funding is there. I am absolutely fuming about this. It is getting to a stage where I do not want to hear any more that: "We have the funding and it is a case of recruitment", when I speak to all the different Ministers. By the way, this is across the board, but I am very focused on children because that is my remit. I have been waiting for the funding for six months, which I am told is there, but when I go to the HSE that is not the case. I am going back to the various services and saying I am told the funding is there, but the HSE has not got it. The Department is telling me it is there. The Ministers must work on this. It is a huge issue for me now. If it is an issue for me, it is an issue for all Oireachtas Members. It is unacceptable. I do not know whether it is due to a lack of communication or a lack of information within the different sectors. I know everybody is doing a good job. I am not here to be disrespectful to anyone, because that is certainly not the case, but I have services that are telling me that if they do not start getting the proper funding from the HSE they are going to close. I cannot go to meetings like that where I am told there is loads of funding, it is coming, and it does not come. I am asking what is the first port of call.

It is great to see all the officials to here today. I am delighted to see them here. It is great that everyone is working together, but services are struggling, in particular children's services, given the cost of living, the cost of heating, the general cost of running the service itself, and the ESB. Services across the board are struggling. Children are not the only ones who are suffering; families are suffering. The only thing I ask is that when the funding is there that it would be given as quickly as possible and that we make sure we are never in a position where a service will close.

I thank the Minister of State. One service in Carlow was under pressure - thank God it was not going to close – but the money was delivered. It was only delivered because in fairness to the Minister of State, I had her heart broken. I rang her constantly.