Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As I said, this time last year, funding amounting to €7.8 million was made available through the Sláintecare initiative to address the backlog of assessments of needs. Since then, more than 80% of that funding has been delivered and we have managed to move forward with the PDS initiative. I have a concern in regard to CHO 5, however, in terms of ensuring all assessments are continuing.

We are really having two different conversations here. When I talk about health, I am talking about an interventions-based and needs-based model. The education side is about diagnosis-based assessments. There is a conversation that needs to happen between the Departments of Health and Education to ensure all children can access all services, including education. While they are receiving an intervention, they should not have to be waiting on a diagnosis. An intervention should happen the minute a therapist meets a child, whether it is speech and language therapy, occupational therapy or physiotherapy. Children should not have to wait for a piece of paper showing an assessment to determine which strand of education they can access.

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