Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Minister well in her new role. When it comes to children with additional needs in this country, the word that appears in almost every single conversation is “wait”. There are waiting lists to be assessed of three to four years in my own area; waiting lists then for the therapies and supports of another three years; and waiting for a place in a school because God forbid there would be a straightforward system in place to match children with additional needs with the places that exist. When the children do get a place, there is a further wait to have the health services and education system talk to each other so basic services like assistive technology can be put in place. I am aware of one case of a 13-year-old boy who had to wait approximately 15 months for assistive technology in his secondary school, even though the health service and the education services had known since the boy was three about the extent of his needs.

For the thousands of families out there who are going through this daily torture of having to fight tooth and nail for their child, they do not want to hear sympathy from us; they want action. Some 18 months ago, the Government announced six regional assessment teams to try to bring down the huge numbers waiting for assessment of need, in light of the breach of the six-month legislative requirement for the assessment. We were told these would be publicly funded, not privately funded, and that they would be run by the HSE. By now we were to have 60 AON hubs. I am hearing that in my own area, in IHA Dublin north county and Dublin north city and west, there is no longer any HSE assessment of need team. We know that the figures in that area are going up, not down. There are 2,890 waiting for first contact from a disability team, which is up from the previous figures of 2,779. What is happening? We know the figures right across the country are going up, not down. I welcome what the Minister said about plans relating to graduate recruitment. However, we are hearing nothing about retention, which is the critical issue within our CDNTs across the country. Staff in CDNTs tell me that the teams cannot recruit directly, the national panel does not work and they cannot access flexible or part-time work arrangements. Many of them are burned out because of the chilling effect of the pay and numbers strategy. Too many are telling me of the enormous strain and toll of knowing that far too many children are waiting. We all know that weeks and months matter in a child’s life.

I am particularly pleased to a former Minister for Education is now in this role as Minister with responsibility for children and disability. When she was Minister for Education, the Department oversaw a situation where schools with preschools were forced to end their licences to make way for special classes. We all welcome special classes, but the impact was that children who were in receipt of AIMS support overnight had nothing. There was no communication between the Department of Education and the Department of children. That has to change. That is my appeal to the Minister today.

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