I wish to raise again a very serious matter that I and other Members have raised previously. It relates to the procedure and process for the assessment of needs of children with disabilities. The Department of Health and the HSE are breaching the law on a daily basis in this regard. The Minister is aware that, under the Disability Act 2005, the assessment of needs must begin no later than three months after the receipt of a completed application. I am regularly contacted by parents who find that there is a huge backlog in the assessment of needs for children with disabilities. I have one such case before me where the parent was told that the application was received on 1 June 2017. The parent was advised that the scheduled date of commencement was to be on or before 1 September 2017. The parent then received correspondence confirming that the application was received on 1 June and that the child's case was discussed at a forum meeting on 20 June 2017. The letter states, " ... [the case] was discussed at the Disability Services monthly administration meeting and his scheduled date for assessment is January 2019 (based on current resources)." This means that the assessment will be completed 18 months after the initial application. This correspondence cites increased referral rates and lack of resources as the reasons for this. The Minister must remember that an early assessment of needs for these children is a legal obligation on the HSE, on the Department of Health and on the Minister himself. The assessment of needs is to start within three months of application and is to be completed within three months of starting the assessment. The Minister is well aware that these children are diagnosed as early as possible in order to ensure that proper services are available to them.

I have received further correspondence from another parent which states:

As you are aware there is already a massive backlog of referrals for AON. The Assessments of Need are not being carried out in accordance with legislation and regulations under the Disability Act 2005. Assessments of need are supposed to be conducted in a consistent manner nationally and procedures are supposed to be in place to ensure continuity of the AON process, yet again this is not happening.

Will the Minister indicate when his Department and the HSE will stop breaching the law and ensure that the assessment of needs process relating to children with disabilities is completed in accordance with the Disability Act 2005?

I thank Deputy Healy for raising this very important issue on the assessment of needs for children with disabilities. He is entirely correct; this is an area in which the State needs to do an awful lot more. The lost decade affected the ability to recruit to and invest in vital public services and this means that we have a backlog through which we need to work. We are committed to doing just that. Deputy Healy will have seen that we have significantly increased the number of speech and language therapists working in local areas. These therapists are an important part of assessment teams. We hired 80 more last year and, under the HSE service plan for this year, there will again be an increase in the level of resources for speech and language therapy.

Similarly in the area of psychology, which is an important part in the context of any team that supports children with disabilities within our communities, we are going to recruit 135 psychology assistants. This will help with that aspect of assessments. The HSE is also currently developing its operational plan for each community health care organisation. This plan will outline the level of service the organisations intend to be able to provide this year to people with disabilities. Given that we have significantly increased the health budget to more than €15 billion, I expect that the people about whom the Deputy speaks will see this reflected in the operational plans for their areas.

I am concerned about the lack of consistency regarding the geographical spread of resources. The Deputy has touched upon this matter. Autism, for example, is a disability issue that concerns many parents who come to my constituency clinic. I am sure Deputy Healy sees such parents at his clinic also. I asked the HSE to carry out an analysis of autism services assessment teams throughout the State in order to map where we have a good service and where we do not. This is so that the resources can be put in place. I have just received the report this week and I will now work my way through it, with the ultimate purpose to have an evidence base in respect of the location of resources. If there are certain areas with particular backlogs and waiting lists for assessment of needs that are above and beyond the national norm, then we need to target resources into those areas. I have discussed this issue with the HSE and I am aware that it is a key priority for the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath. With this and the extra respite service we will see in community healthcare organisations, GP visit cards for carers and medical cards for all children in receipt of domiciliary care allowance, I hope we will make a real improvement.

I accept that this is an area in which we must do a great deal more. I will be very happy to speak with Deputy Healy directly about his community healthcare organisation experience and I will certainly follow up on the details of any cases he may wish to provide. We are investing a lot more in this area and we are recruiting more staff. Staff is the key component in these teams. If we are to drive down the waiting times for the assessment of needs, we need to have more health professionals in our community health care teams. This is a priority for the Government. There will be more recruitment this year and that will build on the additional recruitment last year.

I thank the Minister. While I welcome his reply, it is very similar to one I received six months ago from the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath. The situation has certainly not improved. If anything, it has disimproved. Children in Tipperary are routinely obliged to wait up to 18 months and or two years for these assessments. I put it to the Minister that this is in breach of the law. This is not a regulation or a target. The Department and the HSE are in breach of the law. More importantly, they are denying young children with a disability an early diagnosis so that proper and specific services can be provided to them. I ask the Minister to follow up on this matter and to ensure that the HSE is adhering to the law rather than breaching it. I put the Minister on notice that I will raise this issue regularly in the future. The situation is simply unacceptable and unsustainable. The Minister must progress this matter in order to ensure that children are dealt with properly and speedily.

I thank Deputy Healy and I accept the challenge. The Deputy is correct in that we have to get on top of this matter and deal with it. We are committed to doing that. We have shown this commitment with the significant increases we have already provided to the health service this year and to disability services specifically. These increases build on the increase in 2017. I am aware that this is a major priority for my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath. We are building up services county by county to make sure there are appropriate teams in place and to reduce waiting times.

The Deputy also makes an important point about being able to access services at an early age. The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, is looking at how children can access services in schools either while waiting for diagnoses or without specific diagnoses. The idea that a parent would have to wait for a diagnosis before the child could access supports such as resource hours or a special needs assistant in school is not a satisfactory situation. We will make progress on this between the reforms being taken in the Department of Education and Skills and the extra resources being put in place by the Minister of State. I very much look forward to our ongoing engagement.