Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)

Every single member of the Opposition has put their name to this motion. I welcome Cara and her father. It is an indictment of this Government and previous Governments that Cara Darmody, a young teenager, has had to come back two years after she addressed an Oireachtas joint committee in November 2022. At that time, she said, "I am here to tell you what it is like to live in a family that has severely autistic children in it." She goes on to say that they have been treated disgracefully and she is angry. She is just one of many campaigners on the ground. I say this on a day when the Taoiseach was an absolute disgrace and embarrassment, knowing he is not complying with his legal obligations under an Act passed 20 years ago and, rather than deal with that failure, he said he will change the law. He said he did not blame the High Court for its judgment - that was very nice of him - because it had to comply with the law but he is now going to change the law because he does not have to comply with it. That Act was passed in 2005 after much hardship and hard work and myriad case law. When the legislation came in, the guide stated the Act sets out to make significant improvements in the everyday lives of people with disabilities in relation to buildings, employment and assessments of need. It was not radical enough to say there is an obligation to provide services but there was an obligation to carry out an assessment of need and to lay out a service plan for the services required. Two years later, we signed up to the UN protocol. It took us another 11 years to ratify it. I have looked at all of the reports in my time in the Dáil, including the capacity review that told us there was significant unmet need, the cost of disability report that was never brought in and an action plan we failed to comply with. After all of that, a young girl has to sit outside in protest to alert us to what is going on. She does not need to alert the Opposition, however. For as long as we have been here, there has been motion after motion from Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats - every one of us. We have implored and begged and said the Government has a legal obligation. We know today the Taoiseach does not put any value on a legal obligation; he is just going to change the law.

Private therapy was also discussed. Why are there so many private therapists? What has happened to our recruitment system that nobody wants to go into the public service? What happened to our ability to coax people back into the public service? I worked as a psychologist years ago. I considered it a privilege to give two years back to the old western health board. Has it been tried when we educate people on the public purse that they would give back and we would provide housing? We have any amount of documents. We do not need another change in legislation except to hold accountable the person who has breached the law. That is what we need legislation for, if there is no penalty - I have not had a chance to check it. We know every year from the census the number of vacancies. With 817 vacancies on the 91 teams, how can any service be provided? I have two letters here.

Parents are writing to us in desperation. One parent has spent €25,000 on private therapy, but still to no avail. Another parent has begged and implored the disability team just outside Galway, in my constituency, but no services are available, in the 21st century in a Republic.

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