Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Maurice Quinlivan for raising this very important issue and highlighting this need. I am pleased to confirm that a Programme for a Partnership Government commits this Government to improving services and increasing supports for people with disabilities, particularly early assessment and intervention for children with special needs.

The programme for Government supports the Blackberry early intervention service in Limerick in providing a service to 410 children with very complex needs. A high proportion of the children on the caseload require urgent intervention. Following a recent review of the psychology service, all parents were informed of the need to prioritise the waiting list based on need and that a psychology intervention waiting list was being created. There are now two waiting lists for psychology intervention services - an urgent list and a standard list. Urgent cases will be prioritised for intervention and these include: children who are self-harming, to whom the Deputy referred, or who have suicidal ideas; children who are hurting others; and children whose school placement is at risk of breaking down. All other referrals will be placed on the standard psychology waiting list in order of date of referral to the service. The letter the Deputy refers to did not state that only extreme urgent cases can be dealt with. Children already involved with the psychology service will continue to receive their intervention as planned.

The HSE will continue to support Blackberry early intervention teams to deliver services in line with the service agreements. I support the Deputy's genuine concern. It is recognised that early intervention services and services for school aged children with disabilities need to be improved and organised more effectively. This process has started and is well under way. The HSE is currently engaged in a reconfiguration of existing therapy resources to geographically based teams for children aged from zero to 18 years. The objective of the new model of assessment and intervention is to provide one clear referral pathway for all children under 18 years, irrespective of their disability, where they live or the school they attend. In addition, funding of €5 million was provided in 2016 for the development of psychology services in primary care with a focus on enhanced counselling interventions for children and adolescents. The recruitment process for 114 assistant psychology posts and 20 staff grade psychologists is ongoing.

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