Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)

At this moment more than 15,000 children are waiting for an assessment of need. An assessment of need is an assessment carried out by the HSE of children with disabilities. The assessment identifies the child's needs and what services are needed to meet them. This sounds like a simple procedure, but Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have made a right hames of it. They have scandalously left children waiting for the treatment that will allow them to reach their developmental milestones. Only 7% of assessments were completed within the six-month timeframe required by law. In 2023, the State spent €1.2 million defending itself against parents of children with disabilities because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael broke the law. How messed up is that? It gets worse. The HSE is now recommending that parents take the HSE to court because assessments of need are not being delivered on time. One parent applied for an assessment of need for her son. The assessment was not provided within the six-month statutory time-frame. She made a complaint to the HSE using the correct procedure. The HSE again failed to provide the assessment on the new date it gave after the complaint. She asked the HSE what options were open to her at that stage and got a reply stating that the only escalation available to her at that point was for her to go to the Circuit Court. The system is so broken that the providers of the assessments are telling the parents to sue them. You could not make this up. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have turned their backs on our children.

When a child eventually receives an assessment of need, parents have to fight again to get the treatment that the assessment recommends. There is nothing worse than a parent receiving a letter to say they will be waiting years for an appointment for occupational therapy, speech and language therapy or psychology. In my own area, there is no psychology team or physiotherapy team for those who live in Palmerstown. There is a 183-week wait list for occupational therapy. There is no greater crime in this State than denying children the right to reach their full potential but that is exactly what Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are doing to our children.

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