Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

To correct the record, if a child is in need of assistive technology in order to access the curriculum fully, this would not be granted without being strongly recommended in a report. Therefore, that report is essential in that scenario. I accept the principle of what the Minister is telling me here but the practical reality on the ground is very different. I know of schools where there are proactive teams of staff, where they use all the mechanisms available and all the resources, they engage directly with the educational psychologist and exploit the model that the Minister very well articulated here this morning, but the situation in that particular school with less than 150 pupils is that in the past 12 months, six families have had to get private psychological assessments at a cost of between €500 and €600. Some have recommended further occupational therapy assessments, which is a further cost on those families. It should be based on need, not on the financial resources of a particular family.

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