Last Sunday, I and a number of other public representatives met a large group of parents of children with Down's syndrome. They were frustrated and angry at the lack of general services for their children, particularly speech and language services. They pay for these services themselves, up to €40,000. Is it not time that all of these services were made available directly to these children in order that they have immediate access to speech and language therapy on a one-to-one basis? Will the Taoiseach commit to meeting this group with the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins? Will he commit to providing once-off funding in the year of up to €40,000 to cover the costs they now have to carry by themselves? There is a crisis here and these parents feel their children are being abandoned by the State.

Sentiment score: -0.15