Results 6,481-6,500 of 10,824 for speaker:Anne Rabbitte

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: I am led to believe that 90% of those assessments are full assessments of need, as were there in 2019.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: That is a very relevant question and I welcome the opportunity to answer it. All members have a breakdown of the €7.8 million per individual CHO. The CHOs were then tasked with addressing it and they set their own timelines and targets. I did not set them. As part and parcel of that, they had to engage with private providers to have the assessments done in a timely fashion because...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: What I would like to do with the money that has been delivered is carry out a cost-benefit analysis. Out of that, I would see exactly what was delivered through the HSE, what was delivered through the section 38 and 39 organisations and what was delivered through private providers. We need to drill down to see that the money being provided by the Department is being spent in a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: The Deputy asked many questions and I was very slow at writing them down. I will start at the end. He asked me if the money will go into a black hole if it is not used. It will be used because every one of those 6,500 children is going to get their assessment of need. This money is going to be used. That is why I am holding monthly meetings and that is why I can tell Deputy Sherlock what...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: There are two answers to that question and I do not want to evasive. First, the reason we have to deliver on the comprehensive assessment of needs is that the backlog was there before 2020. That is what has to happen. To my understanding, the reason the standard operating procedure was brought forward was to streamline the entire procedure. People are of the opinion that the standard...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: I have noted everything Senator Ruane raised. She has asked some mind-blowing questions that I have asked myself.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: I thank the Senator for that but I want to address what she asked. Regarding the pre-assessment and the word "streamline" that is used, I asked about that and the answer I got was that we would have the same procedure happening right across every community healthcare organisation, CHO, in the country. To reverse back to 31 December 2019, it was not the case that all CHOs in the country...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: The HSE would say that the SOP is about that. It is important that the question is asked again when it comes before the committee. It says that one can have an assessment done in a timely fashion and a child that presents with speech and language needs will get intervention straight away, but a child with more complex needs will go on for further assessment, which is like the comprehensive...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: The Senator is correct that there is a significant gap between assessment and therapy. I am trying to get to a point where we do not have a backlog for assessments of need and timely intervention and therapy become the priority. The Senator and I have both seen the letters to say that a person is on a two-year waiting list for speech and language therapy. That is unacceptable. We have to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: I thank the Senator for raising the matter and she is correct. Where the therapist has built up a relationship with a young person, it is very easy to continue in the virtual environment, although it does not work for everybody. We are trying our best to get back to face-to-face therapy and we must do that. We must learn to live alongside Covid-19. I will take on board the Senator's...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: The Senator mentioned CHO 7 and as of the end of June 2020, the figures for the assessment of needs backlog was 1,056. On 30 September 2020, that was 1,050 and at the end of October it was 1,005. In November the number was 846. I can flip this to what has been completed. In September the number of cases dealt with in CHO 7 was six while the number completed in October was 45. The number...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: This will prompt questions we can talk again about. The questions must be asked about the involvement of the HSE and the section 38 and section 39 organisations that would be supported. What was the involvement of private operators coming on board? I responded earlier to Deputy Sherlock and spoke about 29 cases being dealt with in the same period. There are questions to be asked. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: They have articulated frustration on assessment needs and paying for assessments. Deputy Sherlock asked about that earlier. The children must move from junior to senior school and they are not in the same school settings. Some of the families, as the classrooms are not in a local community school, may have to travel for an hour or an hour and a half across the city to access services. It...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: This gives me an opportunity to welcome what Senator Fitzpatrick said, and I will tell her why. The committee members know me and my work on the children and youth affairs committee over the past four years, and members know exactly the sort of person I am. I am very open and transparency is very much part and parcel of the person I am. I would welcome the opportunity of laying before the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: I am talking to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, about universal design in this regard. It also came up at the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, which it is building in as part and parcel of its piece also. Universal design is very important. The Senator referred to local authorities. I do not wish to bring up again the standard operating procedure, SOP, in the context of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: The dialogue has been absolutely fantastic, to be fair. There is a massive team working within the HSE and it is led by Dr. Cathal Morgan and Mr. Bernard O' Regan, with whom I meet or chat to at least once a week. Since taking office, I have seen that that train had started when I arrived and the commitment was there before I arrived. These people were committed to the roll out and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: I thank Deputy Dillon. It is important to acknowledge the work that CHO 2 does. The Deputy and I live in CHO 2. That is Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, and under the lead of Mr. John Fitzmaurice and Ms Breda Crehan-Roche, they have done phenomenal work. The number there in June of 2020 was 100 and as of November, the number has been brought back to 55. That is a commitment and a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: I would welcome that for the simple reason that we have embraced technology throughout Covid and we would not want to leave anyone behind. That was the motto at the start of Covid and it should still be the motto. That was one of the reasons when I provided the additional €20 million after the budget that some of the providers, if they were making a request for funding, must also...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: I will reference it because it would not be me not to reference it, as the Deputy will know. Let me address the CHO 3 question. As of 30 June, the backlog of assessment of needs was 589. In September, it was reduced to 559. In October, it was 503, and in November, 449. I will turn those figures on their head. One can see that CHO 3 had completed 30 in September, 56 in October and 54 in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Children's Unmet Needs: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (15 Dec 2020)

Anne Rabbitte: The Deputy is right that there is a crossover between the Department of Education and my Department but the child that he speaks of is the child with a disability and the parent that he speaks of is the parent of a child with a disability so the children with disabilities are my children. As the Minister of State at the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, I...