Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)

Successive Governments have let children with autism and intellectual disabilities down in the worst possible way. Permanent damage is being caused to thousands and thousands of children. The fact this is happening is a national disgrace. Those are not my words but those of Cara Darmody, who joins us in the Gallery, who has begun a 50-hour protest over disability services outside the Dáil. Cara did not utter those words today but last year when Cara held a weekly protest outside Leinster House and Government Buildings.

Cara has been highlighting the crisis in the assessment of needs and disability services since she was just 11. No child should have to spend years campaigning and protesting for basic services. Cara should be in school today like other kids her age but she is not. She is here in the Gallery, and will be outside the building during the day, to highlight that services are getting worse not better. She has watched her two younger brothers, Neil and John, who have additional needs, being repeatedly failed and she has made it very clear that she is undertaking her protest for every child in the country that is being left behind.

There are now more than 15,000 children all over the country who are overdue an assessment of needs. The HSE is warning that by the end of the year the figure could be 25,000. That would be 25,000 children left waiting for an assessment of needs beyond the legal time limit; 25,000 children with additional needs being failed by this Government; 25,000 children just like Neil and John. This is utterly unacceptable.

When the Taoiseach is asked about this he blames court judgements, the law and growing need. He fails to take responsibility. Families have had enough of Government excuses. Opposition parties are putting down a joint motion calling for immediate action. Children with additional needs deserve more than just broken promises. They need quality services to be available when they need them. We all know childhood is fleeting and at the moment too many children are being left behind. Consistent Government failures mean children are being denied the opportunity to reach their full potential. We cannot and we will not tolerate that.

The Dáil motion that the Social Democrats and other parties have tabled is not asking for bells and whistles. It is asking for the Government to comply with the law. It should not take a 50-hour protest outside the Dáil by Cara, just 14 years old, to shame this Government into action to provide assessment of needs within the legal time limit of six months.

Will the Taoiseach stop breaking this law?

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