Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)

More than 15,000 children are now overdue their assessment of need. That is 15,296 children who could be left with a decline in their quality of life. It is 15,296 children whose development and learning will be potentially impacted, who could be missing out on opportunities for support, who could be missing out on therapy and other services that could help them reach their full potential, and whose parents or guardians are experiencing significant stress and frustration.

This week, I am glad to see the combined Opposition coming together to bring forward a joint motion on this, but I am extremely angry it has come to this and that we have to stand here and demand that the Government provide children with an assessment of need within six months, as required by the law. I am in awe of a 14-year-old disability rights campaigner, Cara Darmody, who is staging a 50-hour sleepover but angered that she feels she has to do this to be heard. The Government's failure to implement the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 has meant the education system and the National Council for Special Education are not capable of delivery for children in school settings, which is directing additional pressure to overburdened specialist services.

I visited two schools in Clare with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, St. Anne's in Ennis and St. Conaire's in Shannon, and witnessed this. The HSE anticipates that this will only get worse and there could be as many as 24,796 left waiting by the end of 2025. This needs emergency action to make funding available to Cara's Fund to clear the backlog and to get a specific target date by which the Minister aims to comply with her legal obligation.

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