Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes that:

— children are legally entitled to an assessment of their health and education needs under the Disability Act 2005, and that the assessment must take place within six months; and

— the law is being broken with respect to the 15,296 children whose Assessment of Need is overdue, and with just 4,162 assessments conducted last year the number of children being failed is rising; and

calls on the Government to:

— comply with its legal obligations to provide assessments within six months;

— take emergency action and make funding available to "Cara's Fund", to clear the backlog and provide these children with the assessments to which they are legally entitled to;

— set a specific target date by which the Government aims to comply with the legal entitlement to an Assessment of Need under the Disability Act 2005;

— deliver a longer term sustainable solution, including an urgent workforce plan to recruit, train and retain enough staff to finally end this breach of children's rights once and for all;

— fund special needs services, including speech and language, physio, and occupational and behavioural therapies; and

— provide appropriate school places for children with special needs.

Tonight, the combined Opposition has come together to call out the Government's failure to comply with the law and ensure children with disabilities get an assessment of need within six months. This is not an arbitrary issue or timeframe. It is very widely understood that the earlier children are assessed and given the supports and therapies they need the better the chance there is for them to thrive and flourish.

The Government will not oppose our motion this evening yet its response to this issue over the course of today has been nothing short of shocking. Instead of setting out how it intends to comply with the law, the Government has now set out a clear intention to change the law. It has attempted to suggest this has been to streamline the delivery of services, to use capacity better and to ensure the children get the services they are entitled to but the sad reality is that if the Government removes or waters down the right to an assessment of need within six months there will be serious and enduring consequences for vulnerable children. Removing the onus on the State to deliver comprehensive assessment of need within a six month statutory timeline will only benefit a State and a Government that is failing in its duties. It will reward State failure.

Last week, the Families of Autistic and Additional Needs Children Together, a group from the north east inner city of Dublin, came to the Dáil to brief TDs on their experience and on their peer-led research. I would recommend that the Minister and the Taoiseach meet these parents and listen very carefully to what they have to say. They told us that parents, carers and family members of children with autism and-or additional needs are being failed by inadequate systems of support and that public services are often insufficient, unavailable and difficult to access forcing many families, especially those on low incomes, into an impossible position. While some families are able to turn to private services, this is not a viable option for many, reinforcing systemic inequality and denying children and their families the right to equitable care and support.

One family summed it this way when they said:

As a parent through our journey with my son, I can accept his diagnosis and what is required of me to care for him and I will gladly do that as his mother but experiences I have had with the HSE and services they fund to provide services has been hell even when they are trying to do what's right they can't deliver. No one understands how bad things are unless you have been through the disability services.

Over the course of recent days other parents locally talked about their experiences. Hayleigh said her son Parker was on the waiting list for an assessment of need for five years and because Parker waited for five years for his assessment he never received the early intervention that is key for children with autism and this has impacted directly on his development. Crystal said her son has been waiting for two years for therapy. He still has not received any. Instead she, like many mothers, is sent to courses and workshops so that she can act as his OT and speech and language therapist. Another mother spoke of her experience of having to take the HSE to court to force it to do an assessment of need and said the aftermath was actually worse with zero services provided. She said that the whole system is broken. The solution for these families is not to remove or undermine their rights to assessment of need but it is to provide the services they so desperately need in a timely fashion. Early intervention matters.

This is a community already under pressure and like in many other parts of the State, the north inner city CDNT is down five staff with capacity stretched beyond limit. This means it is even more difficult for families to access services and no therapy is being offered. The pressure continues when it comes to getting a suitable school place. With such a lack of SNAs in classrooms, I am dealing with it right across my constituency, in St. Catherine's in Cabra, Broombridge Educate Together National School and many others. What we need is a step change from the Government.

In my remaining time I would like to use the words of Cara Darmody who joins us again in the Visitors Gallery. You have some stamina, Cara, and we are delighted you are here with us again along with your father Mark. Here are some words Cara sent to me this week. She sets this out really well and hits the nail on the head. Here is what she had to say:

My name is Cara Darmody. I think it's fair to say that you're well aware of who I am and the reasons why I felt absolutely compelled to start an unprecedented protest at the gates of Leinster House today.

Put simply, the Government through the HSE is systematically breaking the law as there are now over 15,000 children waiting on an Assessment of Needs. But here’s the shocker - the HSE have admitted through their own projections that the figure will reach almost 25,000 by Christmas.

I have met most of the Cabinet at this point, including a very kind meeting with Minister Norma Foley last Friday. On a personal level, I have enjoyed her company on every single occasion and never once have I uttered an offensive comment towards any Government politician. [Then she says the following to the Government] But it is your ideology that is wrong here. You continue to act like this is a normal problem that can be solved in time. It won’t be. Permanent damage is being caused to children every day because of your failure to act with urgency and emergency.

Those are the words of Cara Dermody. I ask the Minister to heed them, please. It is now time to act with urgency and emergency. Comply with the law and ensure that no child is left behind.

See this speech in context