Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for listening to the concern and, I hope, providing some answers. I raise the issue of assessments of need and the bleak reality facing the parents of children who are waiting for that all-important assessment of need. As the Minister of State knows, the assessment of more than 4,000 children nationally is overdue, which demonstrates a huge problem with a ripple effect that seeps into every aspect of those children's lives. As we know, for any child with special needs or a disability, early intervention is key. An early diagnosis is critical to having a positive outcome to provide a fast and effective intervention of therapies.

It was great to have the Minister of State in Castleblayney recently. He opened the new group home, where there is fantastic work happening for adults and young people with disabilities. In the wider Cavan-Monaghan area, however, the assessment of need is overdue for 177 children. These children, therefore, are denied the speech and language and occupational therapies they need, which negatively affects the ability of these children to access the supports they need for their education and schooling. While waiting times for assessments of need is at an unacceptable level, it is exacerbated by the fact that Cavan and Monaghan were without an assessment of needs officer from September 2017 to May 2018. That is nine months without the expertise to conduct the critically important assessment of need for those 177 children, who are arguably the most vulnerable as they struggle to grow, achieve and develop their individual potential, not only because of the lack of appropriate intervention but because of the absence of any intervention. Will the Minister of State address this immediately by employing extra staff, providing extra resources and doing whatever it takes to clear these backlogs and reach the three-month turnaround time that parents should be able to expect from their service from the time of application to the implementation of services such as speech and language and occupational therapies?

In case the Minister of State thinks for one second I am exaggerating the local situation in Cavan and Monaghan, I wish to outline two cases from a long list of cases that are coming through my office. One little boy has waited four years and eight months for his assessment of need. As the Minister of State will be aware, there is a mechanism for parents to make a complaint if they feel the process is failing them. Out of pure frustration, these parents used that mechanism but, alas, they are no closer to achieving their initial assessment of need for their child. Not only is their child losing out on the therapies he needs, he is also missing out on the special needs assistant, SNA, whom he desperately needs to support and assist him in school. It must be said that the school makes a great effort to assist this little boy, but I have photographs in my office that the parents brought in of bangs and bruises on the child from when he fell in school. His mobility and ability to get around school are affected because he does not have that SNA. He cannot wait four years and eight months for an assessment of need.

The second case I wish to highlight is another little boy who desperately needs an occupational therapist. I have a letter from the child development team in Cavan-Monaghan informing the parents that this little boy is on the list for his occupational therapy but the estimated time he can expect to wait is four years and five months. He has autism and needs a home and school plan, but his integration in his mainstream school is achievable with the right resources in place. The crux of the problem seems to be that there is a gap in the transfer for children from Enable Ireland to the child development team.

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