Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is a fair question but the Deputy would rightly ask me a different question if I came in here and said the State was going to contest the cases, as that would not be a compassionate or decent approach to take on this issue. The law is clear on the 2022 High Court judgment. I am saying three things the parents. First, we need to reform the system, potentially including the law, and the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, are looking at that. Two, we need to move beyond parents having education over here and health over there and never do the two meet. We have got to implement the programme for Government commitment to put therapy services back in schools, starting with special schools. That process has begun and we are looking to accelerate it. We will be discussing that in our Cabinet committee on disability on Monday. Third, I say to parents that, in the here and now, the initiative I mentioned whereby we are using private capacity and that saw over 2,470 children getting assessments last year who would not otherwise have got them will have its level of funding increased this year to over €10 million.

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