Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to this House. It is the first time I have had the chance to publicly congratulate her on her appointment as Minister of State. I have no doubt that with her work ethic and compassion, she will make a big difference to the lives of people with a disability. I also want to say well done to the Minister of State on securing a significant disability budget, the highest in the history of the State, in budget 2021. Now we have to make sure that makes a difference on the ground to the people who matter because it is about implementation and improving lives.

I will talk about the issue of children with disabilities, particularly in Kildare. I was contacted at the beginning of this month by a mother, Samantha Kenny, about her daughter, Ava, who I had dealt with before. She was distraught to receive a letter saying that three therapists and one part-time therapist would be taken away from the network disability team, NDT, in Kildare in order to deal with early assessments.We all know how important early assessments are but it should not be a competition between assessments and early intervention. Since I spoke about this issue I have been contacted by a number of parents in Kildare. It is not a lie to say they are absolutely distraught. It has been months since March, when their therapists were taken away from them to do contact tracing. In that time, these children did not have the opportunity to be in school so they further regressed. Now, when things had been getting back to some level of normality, the fact these vital services will be removed again is simply shocking.

I understand that therapists, by which I mean physiotherapists, speech therapists and occupational therapists, are being taken away to work on contact tracing. We all know how important contact tracing is during this crisis but to create a backlog of dire situations and consequences for children is absolutely not the way to do it. All of the research on children with disabilities shows the importance of community-based early intervention and the importance of interdisciplinary team work. The fact that Ava and her peers are not getting this at present in Kildare is absolutely wrong. We cannot allow this situation to go on.

We are not speaking about luxuries. We are speaking about a passport to life for these children. We are talking about a situation where children are being denied access to speech therapy to help their communication. The right to be able to communicate is a basic human right. It is something that all of us in the Chamber take for granted. Not having a system in place whereby we ensure children have the right to communicate is absolutely wrong.

We all know that early intervention as well as assessment is key to ensuring children with disabilities can live the best lives they can and can take their places within the community and society. It is absolutely wrong that after assessments are carried out, there is no programme of supports and services to enable these children and support their families. What is happening is completely and utterly unacceptable and I hope the Minister of State can put this right.