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

These families stood in front of me with tears in their eyes as they spoke about how they had tried the best for their children, and how they had saved money they did not have and tried to spend it on getting an assessment and having the needs of their children met, and they did not get it.

We need to fix the assessment of need service. We need to ensure families will get the assessments they need, and on time, in order that they will not be driven into the hands of private providers. We need to ensure any private providers that provide assessments conduct them correctly, and that any assessment that is carried out will open the door to services and get these families the supports they are crying out for, which their children need. This is an emotional topic for me because I listened to the pain these families are suffering, but it is much more difficult for them. We need to address both the assessment of need issue and how we can tackle the issue of private assessments that are just not up to standard.

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