Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In County Cork, 2,000 children are waiting for a first appointment with a CDNT. Children and adults with disabilities deserve better. Parents are being offered online courses and videos. These are not therapies nor are they a substitute for therapy. They can be important for parents when the therapies are given as a support, but not instead of them.

CDNTs have a huge amount of staff shortages including nurses, occupational therapists, psychologists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, social workers and others. The shortage of professional staff is unbelievable. CDNTs are supposed to provide help and support for children with complex needs and their families. Children are struggling. I know the Minister of State knows this and I know she is trying. However, the problem is that we have had 11 years of underfunding and under-resourcing and now the Minister of State is trying to fix a decade of abandonment. It needs to be fixed, however. We have 1,584 children in County Cork waiting for more than a year. How can the Government think this is okay? How can it think this is acceptable?

The Government talks about timely access. We hear phrases like "early intervention". However, if children do not get the early intervention, parents know their children are regressing and will not have the quality of life they could and should have because the State is failing them. I talk to parents who are heartbroken and who then get frustrated and angry. Why must parents fight for services for their children that every child should have access to? The Minister of State will be aware of Families Unite for Services and Support, FUSS. I have heard parents tell stories of waiting years for services or supports. I listened to children speak at these rallies and protests about how they are being failed. Some parents and people are lucky enough to have the resources to go for these therapies privately. How heartbreaking it is if a parent cannot access these services because the State is failing his or her child and he or she does not have the money to get them. I implore the Minister of State. I know her heart is in the right place but we must deliver now.

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