The Disability Act 2005 states an assessment of need must take place within six months. The Government cannot get its act together on a 20-year-old Act. The response to my most recent parliamentary question on this matter stated that of the 1,200 or more children in Louth waiting for assessments, 250 have been waiting for over 12 months and 350 have waited between six and 12 months. The HSE stated the statutory timeframes are not being met in Louth due to limited staff resources and an unprecedented increase in the number of applications and the workload, which have significantly affected wait times. It also stated that it is currently not possible to guarantee statutory timeframes for when completions of assessments of need will be met, that limited staff resources and an unprecedented increase in applications and workload had significantly impacted wait times and that it is out of the control of current assessment-of-need staff to meet statutory timeframes. A 20-year-old Act is in place, yet statutory timeframes cannot be met because the Government cannot plan properly or provide the essential staff required. The waiting lists are getting longer year on year and are not decreasing, even with the Louth assessment-of-need team outsourcing the vast majority of assessments to HSE-approved private providers. Staff are overloaded with work, parents are up the walls with stress trying to get their children assessed to ensure they can at least apply for the supports they require and behind each and every one of these damning statistics is another child with disabilities suffering further permanent damage as a result of the Government continuing to break its own laws. The response of the Government to this and every other issue seems to be to say it is spending more on the problem, but it is obviously not investing wisely given that waiting lists are getting longer year on year. I have to mention the teenage wonder girl Cara Darmody for all of her campaigning to highlight this issue. Once again, she has to embarrass and shame the Government to act and, once again, it cannot even get that right. Today's announcements do not action Cara's demands for an emergency response for recruiting therapists. Until the Government starts listening to the strongest and bravest 15-year-old girl I know, it will continue to damage and fail the tens of thousands of children around this country waiting for assessments of need.

Sentiment score: -0.17