Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The responsibility does not all lie with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth or with the HSE, there is responsibility here as well within the Department of Education. To be quite honest, when we look at the increase since the inception of the Act in its entirety, some part of it may be because the EPSEN Act itself has not been fully enacted. It may be due to the fact that we do not have enough NEPS psychologists. I acknowledge that the Department of Education has removed the barrier for needing an assessment to access education, but it does not mean it removes the barrier to accessing a special class. It also means a person cannot access social protection rights without having an assessment. Health and assessment are needs based so we respond to the needs. The next phase of the assessment hubs is ensuring we have those responsible for education and disability and CAMHS around the table so that children are given a proper and clear pathway on the right team for their interventions.

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