Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have been working with a wonderful team of people at Sensational Kids in Kildare, including Karen Leigh, CEO, and Ann Marie Sweeney, to try to realise their vision to transform access and therapeutic supports for children with additional needs and their families.On Friday last, I visited the enterprise's interim space in Kildare town once again and had the opportunity to tour its national headquarters, which really embodies the ethos of a child-first approach. Every element of this building is focused on supporting and developing the therapeutic offerings of the space and the use of play and fun are key drivers of the sessions. Ms Karen Lee, the CEO, has built Sensational Kids up with blood, sweat and tears. She used her own personal struggles in accessing services for her own child to build a one-of-a-kind social enterprise. It now has bases not just in its original location in Kildare but also in counties Mayo and Monaghan, west Cork and an outreach centre at Athlone. It is a real success story.

We all know the issues facing the HSE in terms of waiting lists. Children and their families suffer most when they languish on waiting lists. The waiting lists in community healthcare organisation, CHO, 7 which includes County Kildare, are the worst in the country. Quite often, we must take the opportunity to raise these issues in the Seanad.

Sensational Kids was established to provide access to vital therapeutic services at a discounted rate to ensure that as many children as possible get the supports they so desperately need. Last year alone the organisation provided 7,300 hours of therapy and it has supported more than 10,000 children since it was established. The Minister of State should bear in mind that this is a social enterprise that was started at the kitchen table of Karen Lee, a mother of a child with additional needs, to try to access services for her own child. She has developed that vision to the benefit of 10,000 children.

Sensational Kids is now at a vital stage in its development. While its current facility in Kildare is good, it is clear that it has outgrown the space, which is no longer sufficient to support the organisation's long-term development and commitment to supporting children with special needs. Karen and her team are at an advanced stage in realising their dream of constructing a flagship child development centre for vulnerable children. I have seen the designs and the centre has the potential to transform how Sensational Kids operates. Sensational Kids was relying on the immigrant investor programme, IIP, as a key source of funding to deliver the project, which was originally costed in 2021 at €9.6 million. In March 2022, it was deemed to be a suitable project for IIP endowment funding, with a total amount approved. However, shortly after the project was approved, it became clear that additional funds would be required because of increases in the cost of construction.

Overnight on February 14 this year, the Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris, announced the decision to close the IIP to new applications. An agreed procedure had been put in place in 2022 by the IIP's independent evaluation committee to deal with requests for further tendering in the context of higher costs. This involved the project submitting various documentation and information to the evaluation committee for further assessment. At no point was Sensational Kids ever informed by the Department of any timeframe or deadline by which to submit updated costs before the programme closed overnight in February, or of any timeframe with regard to returning the application form for additional funding. We are now at a point where a social enterprise that has supported 10,000 children to date, with ambitions to support 30,000 children over the next ten years, has been left in limbo. The organisation has taken out a significant loan on the site, has secured planning permission and has fully developed designs. It has put huge work into private fundraising and is in a quandary. The Minister for Justice needs to put something in place to support Sensational Kids and other similar enterprises.