Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The current programme for Government document, Our Shared Future, recognises the need to improve services for children with disability through better implementation by the working group across Government. I wish to reassure Senator Bacik and anyone who has a child with complex needs that myself and the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, will be working closely together on this. We recognise that there are gaps. It is our responsibility to close the gaps and ensure that no child falls through the gaps. Deputy Bacik can be assured, on foot of the cases she has raised this morning, that what we have within our Departments, where we see the national standardised approach, is not standardised. We are going to work on that. We are going to sit down and put together a plan. My move and the moving of the functions from the Department of Health to the Department with responsibility for children should be welcome news, because we want to ensure that all children get the best access to intervention therapies and fair and equitable access to education at the earliest possible stage on the early intervention side.