Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The crux of the Minister's contribution is that there is nothing to see here, move along, the Government is dealing with everything. He said that next year an autism group will be set up to look at the whole area of ASD right across the board. He referenced disability services and the Disability Act but the reality, as other Deputies have said, is that there are major problems for parents trying to access services for their children. The number of people who have approached me about disability services is phenomenal. All of them are having real difficulty in accessing services that they absolutely need. Deputy Gino Kenny referred to CHO 7, with which I am also very familiar. I have submitted numerous parliamentary questions on disability services in CHO 7 and will read through some of the direct responses I received in order to register the facts and the reality on the ground for people trying to access services in my area.

On 12 October 2018, I received a reply to a parliamentary question concerning a young man. I will not read through the entire response but will quote the following:

There has been very little movement in the School Age Team waiting list for external referrals. Children transitioning from the HSE Early Intervention Team are seen before the children referred by other agencies. The limited human resource capacity to address the waiting lists for intervention coupled with the demand and high deprivation in this area has been widely reported. The service requires a significant increase in resources to meet the needs of the children on these waiting lists.

That response came from the Head of Social Care, Community Healthcare, Dublin South, Kildare and Wicklow, that is, an official within the HSE.

On 22 November 2018, I received a reply to a parliamentary question seeking an update on services. The reply reads as follows:

There are currently 298 children on the Dublin South West School Age Team (SAT) waiting list.

There are a further 18 children awaiting transition from the Early Intervention Team to SAT.

The waiting time for the SAT is 41 months and is growing monthly because the Team does not have capacity to safely take on any additional cases.

There has been no movement in the waiting list in the last 10 months due to:

- the volume of children that are transitioning from the Early Intervention service

- the capacity caseloads of team members

- delays in the filling of vacancies

- maternity leave positions not being backfilled

The following resources are allocated to the School Age Team in Dublin South West which illustrates the current situation.

The reply provides a breakdown of the vacancies and continues thus:

The Team is operating without a dedicated Team Manager...which is an essential resource in managing resources and waiting lists within the Team.

A significant increase in Health and Social Care Professionals is required to adequately meet the demands of children in this area.

The situation is highlighted constantly through letters/reports and risk assessments.

I presume such letters, reports and risk assessments are being sent to the Minister of State. Again, that reply was from the Head of Social Care with the HSE.

On 5 March 2019, I received a reply to a similar question. I was informed that the waiting time for early intervention team intake is currently 14 to 18 months. Also in March of this year, I received a reply to a parliamentary question informing me that there were 333 children on the Dublin South-West school age team waiting list and that the waiting time had grown from 41 to 45 months. Again, the respondent informed me that the waiting list was growing monthly because the team does not have the capacity to take on any additional cases safely. As I said, the waiting time for early intervention was 14 to 18 months on 5 March 2019. By October of this year, the waiting time for the Dublin South-West early intervention team had increased to 22 months from the date of receipt of a completed referral. This is what people are facing every day of the week. The Minister of State comes into this Chamber and talks about what he is going to do. I am not questioning his motivation. I know where he comes from and am aware of his background but this is the reality. What is the Minister of State doing about it? Parents are having to go to court or to private providers in order to have their children assessed. It is an absolute disgrace. The Government should hang its head in shame on this. We are talking here about the most vulnerable people. They need assessments, early intervention and school based supports but it is not happening. This debate is well worth having but it can only be truly worthwhile if the Minister of State is willing to intervene and seriously address what is happening on the ground.

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