Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I would like to use my time to try to give voice to the rage and heartbreak felt by parents across the country about the situation that the Government has allowed to develop. I will quote people from Cork to whom I have spoken today.

Jimmy Lordan, a parent who wants to send his son for an assessment of need, has been told that they will have to wait two to two and half years. He said as a parent that it is beyond frustrating to be met with wall after wall and that his health is definitely deteriorating due to stress, worry and feeling helpless. He went on to say that HSE waiting lists of two and a half to three years for autism assessments mean early intervention is not an option, even for those who have money. He is willing to pay €2,500 for an assessment, but there are no private clinics available because the HSE has block booked them to try to clear waiting lists. He asked whether, in the event he went to the UK to get an assessment, he could use that to speed up the process and access therapies and services for his son, but was told that would not be recognised. There is no public or private option or overseas option. Basically, his only option is to wait until it is too late and early intervention is gone.

A Cork mother has also been told to wait two and two and half years for an assessment for her son. She told me that what is most infuriating and heartbreaking about having a neurodivergent child in Ireland is knowing that the science is clear. With early intervention, real progress can be made and have a life-changing impact. Despite this fact, the HSE erases that potential by refusing to provide resources that can allow our children to thrive.

There are more than 10,000 children across the State awaiting assessment of need. In Cork alone, there are 765 children and in my area, Cork North Lee, there are 338 children awaiting assessment. Cara Dermody, a 14-year-old schoolgirl from County Tipperary, who is a campaigner for disability rights, along with her father, Mark, met the Minister, Roderic O'Gorman, this afternoon. I spoke to Mark after the meeting. He told me that the Minister told them he cannot commit to stopping the HSE from breaking the assessment of needs law in the next 12 months. He went on to say that the Minister, who they respect, does not have a short-term solution, so the pain and suffering of thousands of families continues.

The Government seems to be flying blind on this issue. Mark said it was not a good day for special needs kids. Cara, of course, is calling on people to unite by assembling in Molesworth Street next Thursday, 26 September, at 11 a.m. for a rally putting forward the demand for an end to the underfunding of autism and disability services in this budget. I call on people to join that protest. I also put on the record of the House that there will be a protest in Cork on Saturday, 28 September, assembling at 3 p.m. outside the library in Grand Parade to support demands of this kind. I urge people in Cork to attend the protest and any other protests taking place around the country in the run-up to the budget aimed at putting the Government under pressure on these issues. Cara uses a phrase that has been popularised by Greta Thunburg in the climate movement, namely, that the Government needs to act like the house is on fire. Clearly she believes, rightly in my opinion, that it is not.

Last night, the Minister of State, Anne Rabbitte, participated in a debate with a number of Cork Deputies on a Topical Issue about St. Killian's special school on the northside of Cork city, the largest special school in Munster. It has not had a therapist since 2019. In November last year, the school was promised by the Minister that it could access €150,000 to hire therapists. That promise has not been delivered on. A pilot has since been launched. The school hoped and expected to be part of the scheme, but was not chosen. Last night, the Minister told us and, more importantly, parents and teachers from the school who watched the debate, that there would be a second tranche for the pilot programme to bring therapists back into schools. The ten schools that will be included in the second tranche will be announced at the end of October. The only way to access funds to hire therapists will be if they are part of the programme. Some progress was made in that debate, but I would make it very clear that we do not want a situation whereby schools are forced to compete against themselves on the private market in order to access therapists later this year.

One member of the St. Killian's Parents Unite campaign committee, which is an impressive group, raised an interesting point at a recent meeting, and it would be useful if it was discussed by parents of children with autism around the country. She said there are now about 200 special schools in the State and it might be a very useful thing if the parents in each of those schools elected one or two representatives and linked together to form a campaign committee to put pressure on the Government on these issues. There is a lot of merit in that idea and that is why I have mentioned it.

I will finish with a quote sent to me by Linda O'Leary, the mother of a child with special needs in Cork who has nailed this issue with her words. She said Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, in cahoots with the HSE, have systematically over the past decade withdrawn as many interventions as they could for children like hers and forced them into a complete reliance on the private system for what should be basic intervention to allow every child to reach their full potential. She went on to say that between a withdrawal of services, making it nearly impossible to qualify for domiciliary care allowance, and forcing hiring freeze after hiring freeze, the State and HSE have taken their kids' dignity and ability to reach their full potential and left many parents broken and financially and emotionally devastated by the stress of trying to make up for the State's conscious discriminatory policy-making decisions. I will leave it at that.

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