Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

A preliminary assessment is not an assessment of need. That is the point and that is what the judge ruled on. It was a way of appearing to tick the box of assessment without actually giving the assessment necessary or the diagnosis. I see the Minister shaking his head. Why do Frankie's parents get a letter stating they will get their assessment by May? This is a tick box the law requires of them. This was earlier this year. The box is ticked, but then they get a call from a human being in the disability network team who says it will be two years before Frankie gets assessed. This is the difference between ticking boxes and actually doing assessments and then providing the services that are needed. I am not a psychologist. I have raised this so many times. If the Department wants to staff the teams, it should remove the barriers to psychologists being qualified and getting their doctorates such as extortionate fees. I know that is not a matter for the Department of Health, but we need joined-up thinking. There is no funding for educational or counselling psychologists. It is impossible for people who want to do psychology and who want to help children like Frankie, vulnerable children, to get qualified. Barriers are put in their way.

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