David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

It is an absolute, utter disgrace and a deeply cynical move by this Government.

I also want to raise a separate and very serious issue. Because of the failure on the Minister's part and that of the Government, parents are desperate and have to go for private assessments, but that is an unregulated environment. Psychologists carrying out assessments in this space are not regulated. CORU was established in 2007 with the commencement of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 and has had the power to regulate psychologists since then. Twenty years on, this has not happened. The Psychologists Registration Board was established in 2017, nearly eight years ago.

This scandal was highlighted on an "RTÉ Investigates" programme in 2023, which shone a spotlight on what was described as a wild west of an unregulated space. Many parents are being forced to go private in a space which is not regulated. At the time of the "RTÉ Investigates" programme, CORU gave a response to RTÉ stating that by the first quarter of 2025, the new regulations would be in place and the registry would be open. That is not now going to be happen. It is going to be October before it happens, and even then not all psychologists will be included.

The Government has let families down every step of the way. The State has not provided the service, the Government has broken the law, and people and children are waiting longer for assessments of need and access to services. The Government is gaslighting them, telling them the law will be changed because it is in their interest. The only reason for changing the law is in the Government's interests because Ministers do not want to come in here week in, week out and have to answer for the fact that children are waiting for assessments that they should get. Please do not take people and their families for fools. That is what the Government is doing. From our perspective in Sinn Féin, we will fight this all the way because it will be a disgrace if the Government gaslights those children and their families and takes away one of the few rights they have.

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