Mr. Jason Doran:

I thank Deputy Canney for the question. His question is really at the heart of all the correspondence that he and other colleagues around the country receive. We receive correspondence ourselves about the direct interface between families, children, and the services delivered by health and social care professionals.

In order to avail of those health services, assessment of need is not required. It has probably been driven by educational needs in terms of elements being needed for places in schools, but at the very early stages where parents have concerns, they can directly refer to a CDNT and engage with it on the needs of the child.

Communication was mentioned as well. It is fair to say that communication on that particular issue by the HSE has not been appropriate over the years. There is a module within the roadmap that outlines specific actions internally within the HSE on what it is going to do, but also that family-facing engagement and communication piece, for example in terms of letters that get sent out that may not be appropriate, as Senator McGreehan said earlier. We have all seen examples of that. There will also be guidance on how to route the child through the CDNT or where there is a unidisciplinary issue, into primary care. At the crossroads where the parent approaches the HSE, the question is whether the parent goes to the CDNT for multidisciplinary issues or takes the primary care approach. There are issues around the national access policy, and that is also contained within the roadmap in terms of trying to resolve that between ourselves and the Department of Health. There are very specific issues that are being addressed within that roadmap, but it is accepted that it is a significant problem, especially when people might be in a more heightened state with the concerns relating to their child. I think that is accepted.