When is the Government going to stop failing children with additional needs? Over 14,000 children are waiting for a needs assessment and 41,000 children are waiting for therapies, including speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. Hundreds of children have no school place for next September. Day and residential services for children transitioning to adulthood are almost non-existent. The Government is breaking the law every day of the week. Children with additional needs are entitled to an assessment of need within six months of referral but that is not happening. Thousands of children are waiting for far in excess of two years. If a member of the public was to break the law like that, he or she would be prosecuted. When is this Government going to be prosecuted for breaking the law each day of the week?

There are hundreds of children without a school place for next September. Families have taken to the streets in Dublin, in Cork and all over the country and have contacted Members of this House in opposition and in government on this issue. I stood here a month ago and raised the case of Michael Joseph Barrett from Cahir who is five years of age. His parents were at their wits' end because he had received seven rejections at that stage. I spoke to his mother this morning. Now he has 16 letters of rejection and no school place for next September. There is another constituent of mine, a young boy called Neil Darmody from Ardfinnan, who has a profound disability. He made his confirmation on 13 March but there was not even 24 hours of happiness in his house because on the following morning he was refused a place in a special school. His teenage sister is a well-known and well-respected disability rights campaigner. She extracted €10 million from the Tánaiste prior to the last election and the Minister can take it from me that she will be on the Government's case. Indeed, the family has already commenced legal proceedings against the Department. When will these children get a school place for next September and when is the Government going to stop breaking the law in this regard?

I hope I get this right; I think the Deputy referred to Michael and Neil in his question. I am very conscious that they are very young children who are very special to their families and communities and who need additional help in getting the start they need in life. All of us, whether in government or in opposition, are aware of those within the communities that we are lucky enough to serve who have young children who need better support as they begin a journey in life in which they will face more challenges and in which their needs are additional and more complex.

The Deputy asked a question about prosecution and action that could be taken against the Government. That does happen but I can assure the Deputy that we do not need the threat of prosecution to do more or to act more. Our urgency to do that is driven by an appreciation of the needs that young children have and by an appreciation that we need to, and want to, do better by them. The Deputy asked what actions are being taken by the Government in relation to this. From a healthcare, therapist and staffing point of view, the number of health and social care professionals now employed by the HSE has increased by nearly 4,784 whole-time equivalents, that is, people who are doing the equivalent of a full-time role, which is up 28.5% on where we were in 2020. I am really conscious that when I stand up and talk about figures, it feels very hollow at times in comparison to the individual experience of a child and their family but the people I am referring to, who have been hired, are making a difference to families and children. That is why we need to continue in our efforts to put in place the therapists, special schools and special classes these children need.

The Deputy will also be aware of the work that the Minister for Education is doing with the aim of making more special classes in schools available across the country. The plans that we have in place to do that recognise that the last thing families and their beloved children need, on top of everything else they are confronting in life, is not knowing what school their lovely child, the child they love, will be in. We recognise the huge anxiety that can cause and we know that September after September, this is an issue for too many families. In the time that is available to us, we will work hard to make those classes available and to continue to build on our efforts to have the right number of therapists available in the right places and settings to provide the support we know is needed.

That is a live horse and you will get grass answer. It is an all talk and not enough action answer. The Minister has not answered the two questions I asked. When will these children get school places? When will the Government stop breaking the law? On Monday last the Minister for Education said she would use legislation to force schools to open special classes, which gave the clear impression that schools were refusing to open classes and were responsible for the lack of school places. There are very many schools around the country that are willing and able to open special places, including Bansha National School in County Tipperary, which is ready, willing and able to open special classes. It has engaged with the local SENO and the Department but is still awaiting sanction. When will that school get sanction for the unit?

The opening line of the Deputy's answer was glib and does little justice to the importance of this issue. I stood up and gave the Deputy the best answer that I can-----

The Minister did not answer the questions.

-----to the two questions that he put to me.

No, he did not answer the questions and he is being glib.

He asked me two questions.

I ask that the Leas-Cheann Comhairle would ensure that Ministers answer the questions.

He asked me a question in relation to prosecution and I answered that question. He asked me a question about what we are doing in relation to schools and therapists.

No, I did not. I asked when they will get a school place -----

Again, I answered that question.

-----and when the Government will stop breaking the law.

Deputy Healy, please.

If the status of an individual school mattered enough to the Deputy, he would have let me know about that individual school before I came into this Chamber. Deputy Healy knows that I cannot be aware of the status of every school in this country.

On a point of order-----

Deputy Healy, please resume your seat.

-----that school engaged with the SENO, the Minister and the Department.

If it mattered to him in the way he suggests it does-----

The Minister and the Department know all about the school. They know all about it.

Deputy Healy-----

-----he would have let me know so that I could have, for both Michael and Neil, given them the justice of the answer they deserve.