Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely, First, I give a commitment that I will take them on board and, second, the important element, as I mentioned in my reply, is the availability of resources. As a group, Senators, Deputies and Ministers must ensure they push for the maximum resources. We did a good deal of work during the Estimates process recently. There is also an issue regarding speech and language therapy services. We have managed to get an extra €2 million for 2018 to deal with that particular issue.

Regrading the issue the Senator raised, it is unacceptable that children with a disability are not getting their constitutional rights. I am a little taken aback by this and that no other solution was found for those particular families. I do not buy the idea that it is acceptable that a child cannot start school because there is a delay in an assessment. I will seriously follow that up.

As for the Senator's point about a review, we have an issue - there is no point in ducking and diving about it - with people being out on long-term leave and their places remaining unfilled. There should be some creative mechanism, as the Senator suggested, to address the issue of people who are out on long-term leave. People are out of work for legitimate reason, that is a fact of life and I accept that. If they are not replaced and the list of assessments builds up, that is unacceptable. There is a shortage of psychologists, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists - those are the professionals I hear regularly mentioned.

During my Estimates discussions with the Department of Health, the HSE and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, these were all issues that I raised with them and I will continue to raise. I acknowledge we got an increase of €75 million in the disability services budget, which I welcome. I was looking for more but that comes down to the negotiations and that is life. The bottom line is that in the meantime, while we are trying to invest in and reform the services, we need to be able to deal with these types of situations. Every now and then when I return to my office following a meeting, I am contacted about emergency respite cases or cases of families in crisis and we have to deal with those situations. The issue the Senator raised about children with a disability not being able to go to school because of a delay in assessment is not acceptable. We have to act on that and come up with a solution. I give a commitment that I will go back to the HSE and all the senior people, particularly in the Limerick and Tipperary areas, and I will do my best for the Senator.