Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I welcome his response and the expenditure of €2.6 billion or over 27% of the Department's budget on special education needs. I pay tribute to teachers who work in the area of special education and, of course, the special needs assistants numbering over 20,000 who do an excellent job. My concern, however, is the number of children who are not getting assessed and are waiting for assessment. This is a major issue for me. Last week, a lady come into my office who had to borrow €1,000 from her credit union to pay to have her child assessed. She cannot afford this and it is unacceptable.

I speak with the HSE about assessment. What I am told is there is funding available but recruitment and retention are the issue. We need to help people who are not in a position to afford assessments. Whether they have assessments done privately or not, we should help families and children.

While I welcome the Minister of State's response and I can see improvements in certain areas, there is a crisis when it comes to getting children assessed. I am concerned for the children and their families. I am also concerned that families are borrowing money to get their children assessed before they go to school. That is not acceptable and we need to address this matter urgently.

I ask that the Minister of State to raise this issue with the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, and the Minister, Deputy Foley. We need to work with the HSE, in particular in CHO 4 in Carlow-Kilkenny. All agencies need to work together to find a solution. It is the children who are important. I cannot stress enough that early intervention is key to this.

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