This time last year I was still teaching special education, something I have done for many of my 34 years working as a primary school teacher. I have never seen the crisis of assessment of need as bad as it is at present, so much so that the inspirational 15-year-old Cara Darmody has felt forced to sleep outside the gates of this House once again on such a horrible winter's evening. In County Wicklow, which is in the CHO 6 area, we have been faced with massive numbers of children waiting for over a year to have the first contact. Figures show there were as many as 1,000 children in this category this time last year. While it was welcome news that Scoil Phádraig in Avoca has had a special class sanctioned this year, nevertheless when the county is combined with the Kildare-west Wicklow health area, the total number of children who are waiting for an assessment of need reaches a staggering 2,314. That is absolutely incredible. In County Wexford, a massive 46% of children who received an assessment of need this year were assessed outside of the legally required six-month timeframe, as outlined in the Disability Act 2005. It is the same story from Barndarrig right down to Ballindaggan, from Knockananna to Kilmuckridge, Arklow, Gorey, Carnew, Ferns and all the other villages in between where parents have contacted us from. A whole generation of young children have been failed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, so this has to change.

Sentiment score: 0.04