Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the moment parents are waiting because adequate resources are not being put into the assessment and diagnosis of children with special needs from an early age. The new proposal is for schools to take in the children and avail of a general allocation, whereby they can intervene even without a professional diagnosis. It is also shoving everything back to the parent, because the parent will be able to appeal to the board of management of the school and so on. What research has gone into this? What research underpins this new general allocation model? I ask the Taoiseach to ensure that the Government does not proceed with this model and that it instead start resourcing the existing system far better than it has. Will he agree to increase the number of psychologists available to the National Educational Psychological Service so that they can get involved much more readily and effectively with schools in assessing children from the get-go?

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