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

That is an astonishing answer. The High Court judgment was more than three years ago and the Taoiseach has just now told us that the reason it has not been acted on or that the Government has not got its act together on this is that the previous Government could not agree on what to do. Is that the case? We have more than 15,000 children waiting for an assessment of need that they desperately need, beyond the six-month limit, and the Government is breaking the law because for the past three years, the Taoiseach and his Government colleagues have not been able to get their act together and agree on what to do. Is that the case? What we need from the Government now is detail on how it is going to fix this. It has been talking around changing the law and hiring more people but when will it actually stop breaking the law? It is not acceptable if the Taoiseach and his Government colleagues have been breaking the law for more than three years and letting down children and their families who desperately need access to services and assessment of need simply because they could not agree among themselves what to do.

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