Mayo TD slams government for failure to provide assessment of needs for 14,000 children
AONTU TD Paul Lawless spoke today in the Dáil calling out the Government’s continued failure to meet the needs of children with additional needs across the country.
Deputy Lawless welcomed the presence of parents in the Dáil gallery and paid tribute to their relentless efforts in fighting for their children’s right to education.
“They are the warriors who have been fighting so hard,” said Deputy Lawless. “They have been fighting, taking legal action and pitching tents outside Leinster House. What are they fighting for? They are fighting for their basic rights and their constitutionally enshrined rights for access to education.”
Deputy Lawless highlighted the staggering figure of over 14,000 children currently waiting on an assessment of needs, and a further 13,000 children waiting for their first contact with the Children’s Disability Network.
“There is a window of opportunity where children are undergoing rapid development from the ages of five, seven and ten,” he said. “That age is critical. It is critical because to lose this opportunity for these children is a devastating loss. It is a sin and a crime that these children are being failed at such an important developmental time in their lives.”
Sharing a personal story from his own constituency, Deputy Lawless recounted a distressing encounter with a mother in Mayo. “I was at a fair in Mayo over the Easter holidays and I met a beautiful family. The mother was nearly in tears because her child has no place in the education system. The child is locked out of the education system.”
“The Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, stated recently in a response that children do not require a diagnosis or an assessment of need to access services. While this is technically true, it shows an extreme lack of understanding of what is happening on the ground. Children without assessments of need are very often left at the bottom of the queue. That is the reality.”
“I know of a school in Mayo where children have an assessment of need and yet, due to the lack of resources, prioritisation is necessary. In this case, prioritisation was given to the younger child because it was believed that he would be longer in the school system. The older child was, essentially, left. That is what is happening on the ground.”
In closing, he called on the Government to urgently address staffing shortages and bureaucratic hurdles preventing the recruitment of crucial professionals.
“There is a huge shortage of psychologists and speech and language therapists and yet there is major bureaucracy around qualifying for the people, including young people, who want to access these careers. I call on the Minister to prioritise these vulnerable children.”