Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to say a brief word about the workers who are working in the area of children's disability. They trained to help kids. They trained to work with families. They spend their entire day firefighting and saying "No". They know the kids need the services and that, in many cases, they have the skills to deliver those services but their time is entirely taken up with saying "No", telling people they are on a different list, that they should move to a different area, or that maybe something will happen this time next year. As someone said to one parent in my area, "You can send in the assessment if you like and we will put it in a file". That is demoralising for everyone in that scenario; for the parent and for the worker.

I want to talk about a 16-year-old boy who lives in my constituency. He is autistic and suffers with crippling anxiety. This child has hurt himself and has smashed his head into walls. It recently took four men to restrain him and prevent him from hurting himself or others. Just for a moment, we should pause and imagine what it must have been like for his mam and dad to share that with their local Deputy. Nobody wants to do that.

Nobody wants to have to open their heart and lay their family life bare just to get a basic level of service. This child was taken to hospital in an ambulance. He was refused at Beaumont and sent to Crumlin. The family has tried to get a referral to Linn Dara, but it cannot take him. There is a place in Kildare, they understand, but there is an issue around funding. He has now been referred to St. Joseph's in St. Vincent's but the family has heard nothing back and does not know what is happening.

I am trying to be discreet and do not want to give too many details but, as has been outlined, there are so many families and kids in this situation you could not pick them out. That is how bad it is. It is nearly commonplace. This child is occupying a bed in an acute hospital. He does not need to be there. It is heightening his anxiety, making him upset and destroying his family. Please can we look at getting services into areas like mine? We have the youngest and fastest growing population, yet the CDNT service tells me there is a waiting list of 1,000 people.

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