Wrong to give preference to special needs children whose parents go to court - Tánaiste

The Tánaiste has warned it would not be right to give preference to parents who go to court to ensure children with special needs get an assessment of that need.

Leo Varadkar said "this is not a problem that will be solved by court cases or by paying lawyers' fees.

“This is a problem that if it can be solved will be solved by additional resources where they’re needed and the proper use of existing resources.”

Mr Varadkar was responding in the Dáil to Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty who called on the Tánaiste to give a guarantee that the State would not fight parents going to court to vindicate their needs.

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Mr Doherty highlighted reports that more than 5,000 children were waiting over six months for assessment of their needs with an average waiting time of 19 months. Some children were waiting over two years for assessment.

He said that when he raised the issue there were 3,850 children who had been “failed by the State” and were awaiting assessment which the HSE was legally obliged to provide. Two years ago Mr Varadkar’s government promised action.

“Today it is over 5,000 and it is only going in one direction.”

The Donegal TD said the State is fighting parents in court on the issue. "There are numerous cases where parents are being forced go to courts to vindicate the rights of their children with special needs."

He said they are being failed and not getting their “legal entitlement to have assessment of need within six months”, which was vital for their future development.

“The State is fighting these parents in the courts,” he said. The State “isn’t saying we’re sorry, we’ll support you, we’ll try to do better.”

He said the court battle was only the first hurdle and after assessment there was a battle to get speech and language therapy and SNA school placement.

He called on the Tánaiste to “give a guarantee” the State will not fight parents in the courts.

Mr Varadkar however said that while everyone is entitled to go to court “I think we all appreciate this issue won’t be resolved in the courts.

“And it wouldn’t be right to give any preference to people who go to court as opposed to those who don’t.”

“This is not a problem that will be solved by court cases or by paying lawyers’ fees.

“This is a problem that if it can be solved will be solved by additional resources where they’re needed and the proper use of existing resources.”

Mr Varadkar said that important reforms were under way by HSE which was engaged in major re-configuring of services into multi-disciplinary geographically based programmes.

They wanted to ensure they bring equity of access to services. “It shouldn’t matter what part of the country,” a child is living in he said.