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

I welcome the Minister of State's response regarding the need to register psychologists with CORU. As a social worker, I spent a lot of time registering with CORU. I found the process painless. It provides reassurance and support to the families social workers engage with. CORU has said that there is no regulation of psychologists but that it will be coming soon but, as happens in this country, it has been saying that for quite some time. Is this a matter of resources? Do more resources need to be put into CORU to make this happen? Ultimately, the business of private assessment in the area of autism spectrum disorder, ASD, and the field of disability is thriving because of the struggles in the assessment of need process. There is a need to take on the HSE and to address those unmet needs and those failings. That is the ultimate protection as it would ensure a quality State service that is open to all and that does not cost people an arm and a leg they cannot afford. Again, people are doing this because they want the best for their children. At the end of the day, this is about protecting those young people who are in desperate need of assessment and the services that come with it. I thank the Minister of State for her previous fights with the HSE. I ask her to keep fighting because the assessment of need process is still not working. The services that should follow such assessments are not being provided, even to those who have a diagnosis. There is still an absolute lack of services and that needs to be fixed. If these issues can be fixed, vulnerable families can be protected from private providers.

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