James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. Fundamentally though, there is a problem here in that I cannot think of any other allowance in the State where many people who apply for it are refused. It has been one in three applications over the past four years. I do not believe that those families are applying because they think that a little bit of extra money would be of assistance. They are applying because they absolutely need the money to support the needs of their child. They may be spending the money on occupational therapy, on private speech and language therapy or on private psychology therapy. They may be spending it on fitting out areas of their house to accommodate someone with physical disabilities. However, they are not getting the payment. Some families have the wherewithal to keep going in battling through an appeals' process, but it is a strange phenomenon that in a payment we have assigned from the State to give to parents of children with disabilities, that they have to go through an appeals process to get the allowance. Worst of all, I regret to say there is a system where parents have to go to a solicitor - I do not know whether solicitors do such work pro bono or get paid for it - to get a solicitor's letter to get this payment. They are battling on all fronts.

See this speech in context