Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

From day one, the Government has identified the entire area of disability and special needs as a key priority, along with housing and, as I said earlier, child poverty. That will be reflected in the forthcoming budget and has already been reflected in Government initiatives. Decisions have been taken at recent meetings of the Cabinet subcommittee in respect of this. Going back, when the party the Deputy was in at the time was in government, the CDNT progressing disability initiative was taken. I am not blaming anybody, but I do not think that worked. I said at the time it would not work and have said so consistently. Quite frankly, that is why a new national therapy-in-school service is being established. The CDNTs have had huge difficulty in recruiting a sufficiency of therapists. There is a 21% vacancy rate in CDNTs throughout the country. That model has not worked for a variety of reasons.

I am not blaming High Court decisions but the HSE's standard operating procedure model was proving to be effective and impactful for many children because it was getting therapy services to children more quickly. The legislation needs to be changed without removing any rights. To be fair, when the courts rule, it is then up to legislators to deal with that ruling by amending the Act and so on-----

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