Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will start by painting a picture of two of the many cases I want to speak about. The first case if that of the family of a young man from Newbridge. The family speaks of a loving son whose preschool teachers first raised concerns about him. The boy was granted the access and inclusion model, AIM, programme. He was due to have an assessment by teachers at the end of junior infants' class to see if there were any additional needs. When the pandemic hit, the school was closed and this assessment was delayed until senior infants' class. When it was carried out, his teacher pinpointed a number of things that needed to be investigated. The family submitted the initial assessment of need application in November 2021. The family then spent the next 14 months ringing and emailing. Some dates very given but those dates came and went. Then his mother stated it came to light about the High Court ruling at the end of March 2022 that required the Department to change the process of the assessment of needs, AON. More calls were made and only yesterday the family were told by someone in the assessment of needs office that there was no timeframe and their son remains on the waitlist. However, they were told every child that had previously been assessed, prior to the High Court ruling, is entitled to a re-assessment first, resulting in longer delays. That person in the AON office also informed the Newbridge family that extra assessments require qualified staff that it does not have but it is doing a recruitment drive. The reply from the exhausted mother to me was that it had been the first transparent response she had received.

The second family I want to talk about are from Athy. Their son had an assessment of needs in 2012. He received a letter from the appeals office in November 2021 after years of calls and no answers. The letter stated that his review had commenced and he would be offered a preliminary team assessment, PTA, given the length of time involved since the last one and the change in his presentation. Roll on to September 2022 and a reply I received on behalf of the family stating that this young man was highlighted as requiring a review of his assessment of needs in August 2020. A plan was in place in late 2021 to review his case using the PTA, but due to the High Court ruling referenced earlier, this method had been invalidated. The team now has no alternative for this young man and his case will be highlighted as one of a number of past assessment of needs where requests for reviews have been made

Both families tell stories of their young loved ones finding life so difficult, drifting through each day, looking to their parents for help. Both sets of parents say they are at their wits' end, not knowing how to help them and not getting answers despite numerous calls and emails. This is just a small example of the many representations I get in Kildare. I am dealing with them day in and day out. I am also a member of the Joint Committee on Autism, which the Minister of State has appeared before. Recently we had some senior officials from the HSE in and they were at pains to point out that an assessment of needs was not required to access services. Time and again, they told us that was the case. Unfortunately, time and again, and since that discussion, parents tell me the exact opposite. They tell me they cannot access services without an assessment of needs. They tell me those offering the services, if they can get through to them that is, demand an assessment of needs before they will engage.I hope the Minister of State is bringing some positive news to these families today. The families want certainty. They want routine. Their children are years without this. We need clarity on the assessment of need and whether it is needed for access. How is the recruitment going that was mentioned in previous replies I have received? Most important, when will these families, particularly their loved ones, see the services they need, which, as I have said, they have been without for years?