Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The programme for Government commits to "Improving the lives of people with disabilities". It states, "we will support people with disabilities in maximising their potential, by removing barriers which impact on access to services, education, work or healthcare". How does that tally with the points raised by Deputy Seamus Healy during Leaders' Questions about the massive and rising waiting lists for access to all sorts of supports? To give one example, a seven year old in my constituency, Harry Whitaker, had an assessment of needs in June 2015. As a result of an error on the HSE's behalf, he was not placed on a waiting list. He made an appeal, which was successful, but he was then placed on the waiting list at the point at which the appeal was successful in March 2016 rather than the point at which he had his needs assessed. The result is that he is still languishing on a waiting list and may be languishing there for another year or more. He has multiple needs and while he waits, he does not have access to speech and language therapy or a special needs assistant in school.

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