Disability services in Dublin 12
Senator Ardagh raised serious problems with EmployAbility services and with children in Dublin 12 receiving assessments but no therapy. The Chair cut her off for time, and she returned to press the issue further, saying official replies did not explain how many children were actually getting treatment.
I thank the Deputy Leader for attending. I wish to raise the matter of disability services in Dublin 12. The first service to which I wish to refer is the EmployAbility service in Dublin west, which is based in Bluebell. Service users were told in November that the office would cease operating next month and that it would continue to give support until then. When I made my own inquiries with the Department as to what was happening to the EmployAbility service in Bluebell, however, I was told that its contract will expire on 31 December 2021 and that the Department had started proceedings on new contracts for 2022 and that bid proposal documentation had been issued to EmployAbility services, including the Employ Ability service in Dublin west. It is waiting on the bid to come through.
It is completely unfair that service users are being told a completely different story from that which the Department has told me. We need to find out exactly what is going on. If there is an issue with EmployAbility Dublin west in the context of why it is not putting in a bid, then that issue must be brought to light. Any opportunities there might need to be advertised to other providers that might offer these services to the community. It is a real loss to those who are availing of the EmployAbility service in Bluebell. I cannot understand why there is a such a divergence between what the service users are being told and what I am being told. It seems like I am being placated and the service users are being given more harsh information.
The second issue I wish to raise is therapies for children with autism in Dublin 12. The Dublin 12 autism inclusion group-----
Comment on this
I ask you to bear with me for two minutes, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. The group has told me that not one child in Dublin 12 is receiving therapy. We know that the three-month assessment rule applies and that children are getting assessed within that time, but there is no point in a child having an assessment of need if he or she is not going to get the therapy arising from it. It makes no sense. A parliamentary question was tabled by an Oireachtas colleague asking how children are affected and a blurb outlining the policy position came back. Ultimately, it did not say how many children are getting services. Anecdotally, no children in Dublin 12 are getting any therapies. The issue must be examined. It is a disgrace. We are not looking after our most vulnerable.