Today, 13-year-old Cara Darmody will hold a protest outside the Dáil again. Cara is protesting for improved autism services and for the Government to live up to its promises to disabled people and their families. She has first-hand experience of the difficulties endured by people with disabilities. Her two younger brothers, Neil and John, are autistic and she and her family have had to fight for every single service they have ever received. So many families have to fight and witness nothing but broken promises and threadbare supports from a State that simply does not prioritise them.

Cara has been lobbying Ministers and HSE officials for years now. She met the then Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, in 2022 and the then Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, in 2023. Tomorrow, she will meet the Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris. Speaking to the Irish Examiner yesterday, Cara said, "Soundbites and promises are all well and good but families desperately need action, and that's not just action for a lucky percentage, but action for all."

We probably could not count the number of disability protests we have seen outside the Dáil or the number of people who come before the disability matters committee, week after week, to explain how the absence of services is ruining their lives. We cannot count the number of reports we have had on the failures of service provision. The rhetoric from the Government never seems to match reality. Week after week, various Taoisigh have stood in this House and spoken about how focused they are on disability services and disability rights and how much they care about disabled people's right to live independently. Then another report lands, showing us again that these words were never backed up with action, and a new Taoiseach lands and sets up a new committee, meets more campaigners and makes more promises. There have been enough reports, committees, protests and promises. Cara should be at home, attending school and enjoying time with her friends and family. She and others should not have to fight for basic services, feeling there is no other option but to mount a protest.

At the end of last year, almost 9,000 children with disabilities were overdue an assessment of need. Not one of the children's disability network teams in the country is fully staffed. So many children are being denied an appropriate school place. That is not to mention the failure of respite services, pay parity for section 39 workers, and the list goes on.

Will the Minister tell me how many children are now waiting for an assessment of needs? How many of them have been waiting for more than three months? What is the Taoiseach going to tell Cara tomorrow that is any different from what the two previous taoisigh have said to her before?

I wish Deputy Cairns well and congratulate her and her partner on their news. I thank her for raising this issue. It is the objective of all of us, including Cara, is to make sure that every young person and child can fulfil his or her full potential. That means no matter who you are, no matter where you have come from, no matter what your family situation is or what school you attend or what services you need and no matter what additional needs you might have, they are provided and every child is given the opportunity to achieve his or her full potential. That is our goal, Deputy Cairns's goal and, I believe, Cara's goal.

I commend Cara. For such a young woman, she clearly has a very bright future ahead of her but she is taking this time and using her situation to advocate not just for her family but for those who perhaps feel they do not have a voice or for children coming behind her, and that is admirable. We want to work with Cara and others like her to do what we can.

The Taoiseach, as the Deputy said, met Cara yesterday briefly and will meet her and her father again. The Taoiseach and the Government in general have shown our commitment to do more. We know we need to do more on the provision of disability services and educational services. We are doing just that. We have a budget of €2.9 billion for disability services. That is the highest budget ever. One quarter of our entire educational budget is now being spent on special education. That is an increase of €113 million this year alone, compared to last year.

When it comes to reducing waiting lists for assessment of needs, I understand absolutely how important it is for a child to be assessed as early as possible. The impact that can have on a child's future and potential as he or she gets older is immense. My sister works as a special needs assistant, SNA, in a preschool, where she is dealing with children as young as three, four and five. I fully agree that it is important to get that additional support and get the assessment to understand what those needs are, as early as possible. We are doing what we can to reduce that waiting list, working with the Ministers of State, Deputies Rabbitte and Hildegarde Naughton. The Taoiseach now chairs a Cabinet committee which he established since becoming Taoiseach. In the ten weeks since, additional funding of €6.89 million, bringing the overall amount to €12 million, has already been allocated to address the waiting list the Deputy mentioned. It will not address all of it. It will reduce it by 2,500 young people. We can all see that in the numbers that have been impacted and that will be supported through that additional funding in the months to come.

We want to do more. We want to make sure that those who are waiting the longest are supported and helped as quickly as possible. We also need to make sure we have the staff to be able to carry out those assessments. That is where we have had significant challenges. We are not the only country facing significant challenges. We are working to increase the number of therapists and recruit more dieticians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, social workers and speech and language therapists to work as part of the nationwide children's disability network teams to provide important therapies to children. My understanding is that 161 offers have already gone out this year to try to fill some of those places. More work will happen. I have no doubt that in the upcoming budget even more funding will be allocated to make sure those assessments of needs can be carried out and waiting lists can be reduced. Insofar as possible, as many children and young people, irrespective of who they are and where they are, will be provided with the support they need.

I thank the Minister for the congratulations. Respectfully, that is the kind of rhetoric that I am saying does not match up with reality. The Minister is talking about people reaching their full potential and people's needs being met. There is a stark contrast between that kind of language and the language that comes back in reports from the Ombudsman with titles such as Wasted Lives. We have seen all the reports and heard all the promises over and over again. We have seen committee after committee. Cara has had meeting after meeting. The Minister is talking about the budget allocation. The Department's own capacity review stated it needed about €1 billion to meet the unmet needs of disabled people in Ireland. In the last budget €65 million was allocated. There has never been a real or meaningful attempt to address it from a budgetary perspective.

The Minister spoke about recruitment in the children's disability network teams, saying there were about 160 offers. There are about 700 vacant posts so even if those 160 offers were accepted, it would be a mere drop in the ocean. Instead of telling us how many offers have been made, will the Minister update us on how many have been accepted? How many of the positions have actually been filled? What is the Government doing to fill the 700 vacant posts that are needed?

This Government also promised to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Is there a date for that? There are potentially a few months left of this Government now.

When will there be pay parity for section 39 workers? When will there be appropriate school places? The reality is we are four years into this Government and there is only a couple of months left.

We have had 12 years of Fine Gael in government. I have come to the conclusion that the only way we will meet the unmet needs of disabled people in this country is with a new Government.

We are way over time, Deputy.

Is there anything the Minister can say today that will lead us to believe that it will actually be any different? I mean actions rather than promises, meetings and reports.

I can assure the Deputy and Cara, and many young people like her, that we are acting. I think that is clear from the fact that €780 million has been provided in additional funding for those with special and additional needs over the past four years of this specific Government. I can assure the Deputy that additional funding has been allocated to make sure those waiting lists are reduced and that a quarter of our budget, an increase of €113 million, is now being spent on special education and making sure that those who are in mainstream get the resources they need through SNAs and special teachers. For those in special classes, we have more special classes coming through every year. Approval has been given for 400 new special classes this year and 375 of those have been sanctioned by the National Council for Special Education. We are investing. We are making sure we have the physical infrastructure. We are planning for the resources required for this - the teachers and specialist workers - and we are also making sure that young people get an assessment of need at the earliest stage possible.

The Deputy asked about figures. There were 9,980 children awaiting an assessment of needs at the beginning of this year and 7,550 will receive an assessment of needs this year. That will not fully address the waiting list but I have no doubt the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, working with the Taoiseach and her colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, who is now a Cabinet Minister, is stressing the educational needs of young people and that more money will be allocated in this year’s budget to make even more progress. I am not saying we are there yet but we will make more progress.