The last government did not act on a High Court decision three years ago on assessments of need for children with disabilities because “there wasn’t agreement” on it, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.
In 2022 the High Court ruled that assessments of need should take more than 30 hours, which resulted in the HSE changing its model of assessment.
More than 15,000 children have been waiting longer than six months for assessment and 25,000 are expected to be in this situation by the end of the year.
Social Democrats acting leader Cian O’Callaghan said the accelerated procedure “was struck down for a good reason. It consisted of one hour of observed play time and a 30-minute discussion with a parent.
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“Children were then diagnosed as having a disability but not told which disability they had. It was a completely inadequate box-ticking exercise. Are you telling us that this is a system that you’re going to return to, or is your plan to get rid of assessment and need altogether?” he asked Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
Mr Martin said, “I have no intention of going back on the standing operating procedures” that applied before the High Court ruling.
But he said, “I believe when the High Court makes a decision it is clinicians that should ultimately decide in terms of the nature and type of provision on therapy, medicine or anything.
“The last government did not follow through for different reason. There wasn’t agreement in respect of it after the High Court decision.”
The Taoiseach said, “an assessment of evaluation is not a static thing, nor should it be. As a child develops, the child needs ongoing review” and the Government had decided to have a national “in-school therapy service”, a “red-line” issue for this Government.
Mr O’Callaghan said “that is an astonishing answer”.
“When 15,000 children are waiting for needs assessments “you haven’t got your act together in this because the previous government couldn’t agree on what to do”.
Mr O’Callaghan said: “You’ve been talking around changing the law, hiring more people. But when are you actually going to stop breaking the law?”
[ Government to change law in bid to speed up autism and disability assessmentsOpens in new window ]
Accusing Mr O’Callaghan of “deliberate distortion”, the Taoiseach said this Government will deal with the court decision but the previous government had dealt with a lot of other related issues, including a 30 per cent increase in assessments in 2023 and a 65 per cent increase in the first three months of this year compared to last.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the Taoiseach had met Cara Darmody on Wednesday morning and “you gave no commitments”.
Mr Martin confirmed he met the teenager on Wednesday morning and “we discussed all the issues involved and I outlined what the Government is going to do”.
