Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We have taken advice, but not only from experts. I am not always enamoured with the advice of experts. We have taken advice and engaged exhaustively on how one should deliver a service. I really do accept fully what Deputy Lowry is saying in this instance, but most parents I meet say they are prepared to wait for a diagnosis if offered early intervention. They say that what they want is the intervention and therapy for their children. We are building up the service and ensuring it will continue to be built. The Deputies will know where the service needs to be from the amount of money invested and the posts put in place.

In the recent past, it was a matter of getting the diagnosis and the therapy afterwards. I always believed that was deeply unfair because I might be able to afford a diagnosis for my child while somebody next door might not and might have to wait until her child is five, six or seven to obtain a diagnosis from the HSE. Therefore, we are to put the intervention and therapies in place before the diagnosis. That is a more equitable way of proceeding.

In the past, one nearly had to sign up to a particular service before getting any type of therapy. We are old enough to know that, but we are now saying that if we are serious about mainstreaming children with disabilities, the parents should be able to choose where their children go to school and where they want to live. Therefore, the service needs to be available within their community such that they will not have to sign up to a service. I fully admit that we still do not have the necessary number of staff in place to deliver the type of service I envisage and that parents tell me they want. We are working on that. There will be additional resources and posts in this year's service plan. However, I hear what the Deputies are saying and will make sure that south Tipperary is considered when it comes to the allocation of the new posts.

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