Seanad debates

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

2:35 pm

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, she might not remember. I refer to an extremely serious issue that I have had occasion to deal with in north Dublin. Nationwide, there are 58 early intervention teams but in 11 Health Service Executive, HSE, areas, there is no early intervention team at all. The entire Dublin region has no early intervention teams. The purpose of such teams is to assess and support children with disabilities by agreeing with their parents a path forward for them and to consider the areas in which the children need assistance to help them to develop further and to reach their potential. However, there are 11 HSE areas without an early intervention team and consequently, the children have no support at all. More worryingly - I have written to the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, in this regard because I have encountered a couple of cases in the north Dublin region - since June 2012 the HSE is not even adding to the waiting lists. This is about children with disabilities but a family seeking early intervention assistance through the HSE for a child is not even being added to the waiting list. The purpose of this obviously is to enable the HSE to massage the figures. I have to hand the complete figures on an area-by-area basis as to the number of children who are waiting for early intervention but surprisingly enough, for the Dublin region the number of children in each team has been left blank in all of the areas because the waiting lists have closed. I have written to the Minister and know of families who have visited his office in Swords. The response they received was to ask the parents whether they could not have the assessment done privately. Many of these parents cannot afford to have such assessments carried out privately. This is an extremely serious issue that must be addressed.

The Minister with responsibility in this regard is the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, as well as his junior ministerial college, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. Moreover, I imagine the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, would have something to say in this regard. What is the Government's response to this issue? Will there simply be no early intervention teams in 11 areas, including all the Dublin areas, Kildare, west Wicklow and Wicklow itself? No service at all has been made available in those areas. What is the Government's position about not even having a waiting list? Anyone who applies is being told the waiting lists are closed. Colleagues on all sides of the House, of any party and none, will agree this is a completely unacceptable situation. I will conclude by asking the Leader to arrange for the Minister to come into the House to discuss what will be done in this regard as soon as possible, that is, next week or this Thursday. I do not believe anyone thinks the current position is tenable or acceptable as, after all, this pertains to kids and anyone who understands the issue of children with disabilities will understand the importance of early intervention and being able to set out a plan for such children to reach their potential. All Members will be concerned about this issue and I respectfully ask the Leader to arrange an early debate on this matter, in order that the Government can put forward what it plans to do about it.

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