Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ireland prides itself on the caring and helpful nature of its people.

As a people, we embrace those in need and open our hearts and arms to those who require assistance. Unfortunately, more than 50% of the families of children with disabilities surveyed by Inclusion Ireland reported they were not receiving any medical therapies. A separate survey undertaken by Down Syndrome Ireland, DSI, confirms this finding, with almost half of its respondents reporting they have received no therapy of any kind in the past year.

Let us put ourselves in the place of the parents of these children. They love their children. They want the very best for them, for them to learn and achieve everything they possibly can and to have access to everything they require. The parents certainly do not want to have to fight or beg for essential services for their children or to scramble for their children's entitlements. It is a battle that is lost before the struggle begins. This is the stark reality for families of disabled children.

Down Syndrome Ireland recently released details of a survey carried out with 400 of its members on the services they received over the past year. Of those surveyed, 65% had received no speech and language therapy, 70% had received no physiotherapy, 87% had received no occupational therapy and 95% had received no psychology services. Overall, 44% of those surveyed had received no therapy service of any kind. It is an appalling vista. When the results of this survey were put to the HSE, the response was "there are 91 Children's Disability Network Teams, CDNTs, across the country and that these teams ensure children with complex needs can access child and family centred supports based on their need rather than their diagnosis". When questioned at the Oireachtas joint committee, it emerged that the HSE is functioning at 75% of its capacity. Therefore, the truth remains that the organisation has an understaffed service where overworked professionals cannot meet demands.

When we hear these figures and statistics, they alarm us. They are frustrating and annoying. To really grasp what these figures mean, however, we must look beyond the numbers. We must fully comprehend how the lack of services has an impact on those left without them. These children and young people are not numbers. They are young girls and boys and sons and daughters. They are people who need support, but that help is being denied to them. To deny them the necessary supports is to deny them the chance to live their best lives. It prevents these young people and their families from reaching their maximum potential. It confines them to a life controlled by disability rather than providing them with the means to live in which disabled family members can contribute the very best of themselves.

Not providing essential therapies is a form of neglect. By being denied speech and language therapy, children are not only being deprived of the help they require with communicating but also being denied help with eating, drinking and swallowing. These skills fall within the remit of a speech and language therapist. Occupational therapy allows children to develop their fine motor skills, improve hand-to-eye co-ordination and to perform the tasks associated with everyday life. Physiotherapy helps to improve movement and function in the body and address issues caused by problems with muscles, bones or the nervous system.

Every therapy recommended for children with disabilities is vital for those children. The therapies help them to gain coping skills, to learn self-regulation, social skills and social thinking, to understand their own strengths and weaknesses, to connect with their emotions and to improve their self-esteem. To deny them this help is to deny them their basic fundamental rights as individuals. It prevents them from achieving their full potential. The HSE has stated it is seeking to address the shortage of staff required to provide services to all children with disabilities, and that it is working to identify gaps and to develop a comprehensive workforce plan for the sector.

I call these responses platitudes. The Minister needs to ask the HSE to provide evidence of exactly what it is doing to provide services for vulnerable children and young people. How much time will it take to identify and address the gaps? What is the timescale involved? When can we expect to see an efficient and effective service in place? Children in Tipperary and in every town and village in the country do not have the time to wait for the HSE to seek and to identify. They need these services urgently. As children, this is their window of opportunity to access the help they need. Further excuses and delays must not be tolerated. Parents and their children demand and deserve a proper professional service.

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