Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will quickly revisit the issue of the autistic four-year-old. There was a family intervention meeting and the mother was told that no therapies would be possible for a couple of months. This child is not toilet trained and that is creating specific difficulties. The problem is that the child cannot get a place in a special school or in a regular school until that is resolved. The only thing the mother is being offered is parenting programmes. Obviously, this is not fit-for-purpose.

We must get serious about workforce planning. We know what numbers we have, but we need an assessment of how many people we need and we must find any means possible to ensure we can employ those people. Looking down the line, we must ensure there is a throughput of people being trained. It is also about ensuring we facilitate people with work visas and whatever else is necessary. As we can see, the cost of not doing this is astronomical.

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