Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Palestine women's national soccer team to Ireland and commend Bohemian Football Club on hosting the squad for their match this evening.

What does it say about the Minister's party's record that after 13 years in government, families are forced to go onto the media to beg for the services to which their children with disabilities are legally entitled. Recently, another desperate mother had to go public to report that her little boy will miss out on starting school later this year because he has not received his assessment of need. The HSE has confirmed that almost 10,000 children await an assessment of need the Government is obliged to provide within three months. All over the State, there are little boys and girls who need help and services. Their parents know this, their childcare providers or teachers know this and very often, their young siblings know this but they cannot access the help or services they need. Many cannot access appropriate school places or special protection supports without an assessment. They cannot get access to services with or without an assessment because of intolerable waiting lists. Can the Minister imagine the frustration, pain and anger of a mother or father who knows their child's life could improve drastically if only he or she could get access to an occupational therapist, to speech and language therapy or to a place in the right class in the right school but who finds the Government's failures are preventing the child from getting a fair chance of accessing those things?

An assessment of need identifies whether a person has a disability, any health or educational needs that arise from that disability, as well as what services are required to meet those needs. The Government has a legal obligation to provide an assessment of need under the Disability Act but true to Fine Gael form, the Government has been trying to shortcut the assessment process and this was called out by the High Court. The Government is now overseeing record waiting lists for assessments and 8,000 of the children have been waiting for more than three months. Some parents have gone to the expense of getting assessments carried out privately but the HSE will not accept them, while of course many families do not have the wherewithal to even consider that option. For those who do receive an assessment of need, very often they find their battle has just begun. Waiting lists for OTs, for speech and language therapy and other services are disgracefully long. Many find that the special education requirements of their child cannot be met because the Government continues to play catch-up rather than plan for the educational needs of children it knows are coming into the system.

The problem is, of course, worse in our native County Monaghan, which is just one of only two counties that do not have a special school despite the need being identified many years ago. What does the Minister say to the mother today who is looking at her little boy who does not have a school place next September? What does she say to those parents who are wondering when their child will receive the diagnosis they need for educational and health supports? What does the Minister say to those whose children have been assessed, who know what their child's needs are but who are being told those needs will not be met? After 13 years in government, what assurance will the Minister give to those families who will have to fight the Government every single day of their child's life just to get the services that will allow their children to have the start that every parent would want for their son or daughter?

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