I welcome the UN special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territories, Ms Francesca Albanese, to the Chamber. Some 250 UN staff have been killed in Gaza since October 2023. Ms Albanese's presence in the Dáil is especially important as Israel continues its genocidal war on the men, women and children of Gaza. We wish her well in continuing to speak bravely against this atrocity and standing up for the human rights of Palestinians.

Tá dearmad déanta ag an Rialtas ar leanaí a bhfuil riachtanais speisialta acu agus ar a dtuismitheoirí. Dhá lá roimh an toghchán áitiúil, thaistil an iarAire Stáit, Anne Rabbitte, in éineacht le Charlie McConalogue go Leitir Ceanainn chun €3.6 milliún de dheontaisí d’eagraíochtaí i gContae Dhún na nGall a fhógairt le teiripe a chur ar fáil do pháistí a bhfuil riachtanais speisialta acu. Táimid anois 17 mí ón gcéad fhógairt a rinne an iarAire Stáit, ach níl pingin rua amháin tugtha d’aon cheann de na heagraíochtaí seo. Tá sé anois ráite ag an Roinn liom ní hamháin nach bhfuil airgead ar bith ann, ach nach raibh an t-airgead ann ar chor ar bith. Tá sé seo scannalach.

For too long, children with special needs and their parents have been left behind by this Government. We now have another scandal where money to fund therapies for children, promised by the Government 17 months ago, was never released. The parents of children with special needs must battle the State every single day for vital services that their children need. It is a battle they should not have to fight. My own county of Donegal has become a black spot for supports for children with special needs. For years, parents have been forced to go it alone. They are crying out to the Government to get its act together and ramp up service provision for these children.

In October 2023, they thought their pleas were heard. The then Minister of State, Anne Rabbitte, announced the children's disability service grant, supposedly an emergency stopgap Government fund to urgently provide services and therapies for children with special needs throughout the State. One parent who was delighted with the news was Denise McGahern. Her nine-year-old son, Jack Donaghey, has cerebral palsy and is permanently in a wheelchair. Denise has been fighting for physiotherapy and speech and language therapy that he so desperately needs. This money was to be allocated within weeks of the Minister of State's announcement of the fund being set up. Some 52 organisations across the State were to benefit from it. Months later, though, nothing had happened. In June 2024, two days before the local elections, the then Minister of State, Senator Rabbitte, travelled with Charlie McConalogue to Letterkenny to announce the immediate allocation of €3.6 million in funding to provide essential therapies to four organisations in Donegal. Denise was contacted. She was asked if she and her son Jack would attend the announcement. They were included in the photos with the Minister of State. They listened to Anne Rabbitte when she told the media the money would be "an absolute game-changer" for children in Donegal and the surrounding area. They could finally see a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.

Seventeen months since the Minister of State's first announcement, that light has vanished. None of this money has been released, not one red cent, not in Donegal or anywhere else in the country. I sought answers on behalf of these families and have now been told by the Department that not only is there no money, but this money was never there at all. This is scandalous. I spoke to Denise yesterday. She is devastated. She feels betrayed. She feels that her son Jack was used by the Government as a prop in a photo opportunity during an election campaign. I imagine that parents of children with special needs all over Ireland feel the same: let down, betrayed again. The Tánaiste was Taoiseach at the time. How on Earth did a Minister of State in his Government travel to Donegal to make an announcement of emergency funding to be released within weeks to desperate families when the money was never cleared and did not exist? How did that happen? What is the Tánaiste going to do to make sure the money is released to the organisations so that families such as Jack's can benefit from it?

I thank Deputy Doherty for raising the question on children's disability services. I want to begin where he began by welcoming the special rapporteur from the United Nations for the occupied territories to Ireland and thank her for her work. With a representative of the United Nations in our country, I want to join with all Members of this House and with the Secretary General of the United Nations in expressing our deep sadness and shock to learn of the death of a United Nations Office for Project Services staff member when two UN guesthouses were hit in Israeli air strikes. Five other UN personnel were seriously injured and, of course, hundreds upon hundreds of people, including children, have been killed in brutal airstrikes over the past number of days, an utterly despicable situation.

Let me first agree with the Deputy. This money should be released. The Deputy asked me what I was going to do. I am going to make sure it is released. I am going to make sure it is provided. I have spoken to the Taoiseach about this matter at the Cabinet committee on disability on Monday. I agree with the Deputy that this issue needs to be resolved on behalf of parents, their children and organisations that applied in good faith for the scheme. I must acknowledge that the scheme was an innovative and good idea to try to find another mechanism to provide much-needed funding and, as the Deputy says, a stopgap level of funding, to provide vital services. That fund needs to be provided. I regret that this situation has gone on as long as it has. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and for raising the views of Denise. I am sure there are many others like Denise who rightly want to know when this is going to be resolved.

My understanding is that the HSE launched a call for what is called the children's disability service grant fund back in October 2023. There was a quite a lot of interest, which is probably no surprise to anyone, such is the level of need. Following the evaluation process, the HSE confirmed that projects with a cost of around €8 million have met the criteria for the fund. This now needs to be provided. It is no fault of the organisations involved. I am sure many of those organisations are having to deal with the disappointment and concern of parents. My view is very simple, in that, if an application met the criteria under the scheme, that application should be funded. We need to resolve this urgently. I thank the Deputy for highlighting the issue and am happy to come back to him directly on this matter.

This is one measure we have taken and the funding needs to be provided. The second stopgap - the Deputy called it that, but it is an appropriate phrase while we try to build up capacity - is the initiative we took last year to try to provide additional funding for assessments of need, many of which will be required by many of the families the Deputy deals with in his own work. I am pleased to say that an initiative we put in place to provide funding for private assessments of need where required saw 2,479 assessments of need commissioned from private providers between June and December of last year at a cost of €8.2 million. We have allocated an additional €10 million for that scheme this year.

Imagine having a child with special needs, the love you would have for them, the fact you would run through a brick wall for them. Imagine having to fight every single day to get the services they need, to live with the stress and anxiety, the worry of developmental delays and the possible impact on their life and future. Imagine being told by the Government - a Minister of State, no less - that help was on the way. Imagine the incredible relief and melting away of some of the stress you had felt for years. Imagine then having that hope that your child was going to get the service ripped away from you and being told the help was never actually coming at all. That is what the Government did. I asked the Tánaiste a question. This is not just a case of saying we will fix it now. What was done was cruel. This parent feels her child was used as a prop. How could a Minister of State announce funding to organisations when the money did not exist? This has been going on for 17 months. The Tánaiste was Taoiseach for the majority of that and he tells me today when I raise it in the Dáil that he will look into it and make sure the money is released. This has been going on for a year and a half. This is only happening because the HSE is not providing the services.

Your time is up, Deputy.

I will finish on this point. Jack has not had any physiotherapy or speech and language therapy from the HSE for a year and a half even though the Department made a promise in front of that child that he would get the services.

It is scandalous. Where is the accountability? How did this happen under the Tánaiste's watch? When is this money going to be released to these families from these organisations?

I am not rowing with Deputy Doherty today. He seems nearly disappointed that I am saying I am going to resolve the matter. He is right to highlight this issue. He is right to call on us to resolve the issue, and we are going to do that. I am not going to stand up and defend something that cannot be defended. A scheme was announced in good faith, people applied, and the funding now needs to be provided. The HSE has a level of funding that is almost eye-watering, and €8 million is a rounding error. The idea that that €8 million, which could make a fundamental difference to the lives of so many children, including in the Deputy's county, has not yet been provided is extraordinarily frustrating. The Deputy asked. I am not commentating on this. I know what I am going to do. I have told the Deputy very clearly what I am going to do. I have spoken to the Taoiseach. He and I are ad idem on this issue. We will have a Cabinet committee on disability, and we are going to resolve the issue and make sure the money flows because the Deputy has outlined the very serious human impact to young children when that does not happen, and I thank him for doing that.