Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish Deputy Cairns well and congratulate her and her partner on their news. I thank her for raising this issue. It is the objective of all of us, including Cara, is to make sure that every young person and child can fulfil his or her full potential. That means no matter who you are, no matter where you have come from, no matter what your family situation is or what school you attend or what services you need and no matter what additional needs you might have, they are provided and every child is given the opportunity to achieve his or her full potential. That is our goal, Deputy Cairns's goal and, I believe, Cara's goal.

I commend Cara. For such a young woman, she clearly has a very bright future ahead of her but she is taking this time and using her situation to advocate not just for her family but for those who perhaps feel they do not have a voice or for children coming behind her, and that is admirable. We want to work with Cara and others like her to do what we can.

The Taoiseach, as the Deputy said, met Cara yesterday briefly and will meet her and her father again. The Taoiseach and the Government in general have shown our commitment to do more. We know we need to do more on the provision of disability services and educational services. We are doing just that. We have a budget of €2.9 billion for disability services. That is the highest budget ever. One quarter of our entire educational budget is now being spent on special education. That is an increase of €113 million this year alone, compared to last year.

When it comes to reducing waiting lists for assessment of needs, I understand absolutely how important it is for a child to be assessed as early as possible. The impact that can have on a child's future and potential as he or she gets older is immense. My sister works as a special needs assistant, SNA, in a preschool, where she is dealing with children as young as three, four and five. I fully agree that it is important to get that additional support and get the assessment to understand what those needs are, as early as possible. We are doing what we can to reduce that waiting list, working with the Ministers of State, Deputies Rabbitte and Hildegarde Naughton. The Taoiseach now chairs a Cabinet committee which he established since becoming Taoiseach. In the ten weeks since, additional funding of €6.89 million, bringing the overall amount to €12 million, has already been allocated to address the waiting list the Deputy mentioned. It will not address all of it. It will reduce it by 2,500 young people. We can all see that in the numbers that have been impacted and that will be supported through that additional funding in the months to come.

We want to do more. We want to make sure that those who are waiting the longest are supported and helped as quickly as possible. We also need to make sure we have the staff to be able to carry out those assessments. That is where we have had significant challenges. We are not the only country facing significant challenges. We are working to increase the number of therapists and recruit more dieticians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, social workers and speech and language therapists to work as part of the nationwide children's disability network teams to provide important therapies to children. My understanding is that 161 offers have already gone out this year to try to fill some of those places. More work will happen. I have no doubt that in the upcoming budget even more funding will be allocated to make sure those assessments of needs can be carried out and waiting lists can be reduced. Insofar as possible, as many children and young people, irrespective of who they are and where they are, will be provided with the support they need.

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