Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State knows well the struggle experienced by many parents of children with disabilities in regard to assessment of need. We have spent a long time in the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and in the Chamber debating what the Ombudsman for Children referred to as the "unmet needs" of these families. They are dealing with significant pain, misery, grief and loss, and it is very difficult for them.

I acknowledge the work the Minister of State is doing. She has been touring the country, listening to these families at first hand and doing her best to engage with the HSE, even if it does not always engage with her. Nevertheless, we have to do more and highlight these issues. When families struggle with the assessment of need process, they are driven to private psychologists and private assessment services, which are obscenely expensive for families, not least vulnerable families who are already struggling with the additional cost of supporting a child with a disability and the impact that has on family income and their ability to work.

The challenge does not just relate to the cost; many of these private assessments are, to be blunt, substandard. They are just not good enough. Many people have paid good money for a private assessment and been told it is invalid and will not be accepted by the HSE. They may have been told the person carrying out the assessment does not have the required qualifications, has not made an accurate diagnosis or has not done the assessment in the right way. This is a struggle especially where families have waited for a long time, scrimped and saved and then sought an assessor in the private market.

In my constituency in particular, numerous families have reached out to me to complain about one person, Caroline Goldsmith, is conducting assessments that are just not suitable-----

See this speech in context