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

I accept that point, but this only arises because the Act is not in place and does not provide for the assessment of children at the earliest stage possible.

Does the Taoiseach not accept that, at the very minimum, someone in the Departments responsible for education and health and the Taoiseach's Department should have reviewed all this and identified the obstacles and policy response required to confer basic rights on children with regard to the assessment of their conditions? We are going nowhere if we do not have the assessment. I refer to how the system can respond properly to a child's needs.

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