Disability assessments waiting list
Deputy Healy highlighted severe delays in assessments of need for children with disabilities and a protest by Cara Darmody. The Minister said supporting children with disabilities is a priority, pointed to budget funding, and said officials are working on the issue.
When is this Government going to stop failing children with disabilities? Next Tuesday, Cara Darmody, a teenage disability rights campaigner from Ardfinnan in my constituency, will start a 50-hour sleep-out in pursuit of urgent and immediate action to secure assessments of need for children with additional needs within the six-month legal limit. There are over 14,000 children on the waiting list. To be precise, the actual number is 14,221. Some 90% of these have been waiting for well in excess of the six-month legal limit. The majority have been waiting for more than two years. Last year, the total number seen was 4,162. This means that people are spending three and a half years on the waiting list.
At my request, the Joint Committee on Disability Matters this morning agreed to invite Cara to address it. I understand that she has requested a meeting with the Minister. I ask the Minister to confirm that she will meet Cara as soon as possible.
Comment on this
I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. I acknowledge the work of Cara Darmody in highlighting the very important issues he mentioned. Supporting people, particularly children with disabilities, is an absolute priority for this Government. A total of €3.2 billion was allocated for disability services in the budget. Almost one third my Department's budget is focused on supporting children with additional needs. We know there is more work to do.
On assessments of need, the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, is working with the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley, to make sure that any changes that need to be made to the overall structure are made in order that we can address the challenges and the backlog and that, most importantly, children get access to the services. Parents want their children to have assessments of need, but we need to make sure they are getting the services at the end of the day. That is where the focus needs to be. For my part, it is making sure that children get access to the places in schools to which they are entitled. A huge amount of work has been done in that regard. We must also ensure that when they are in school, they are getting access to therapies.
I have replied to Cara and said I am very open to meeting with her. I hope to do so in the coming days. We will certainly meet.