Over 900 children in Louth waiting for assessment of needs report

There are over 900 children with a disability or autism waiting in Louth for an Assessment of Needs (AON) report, along with vacancies in over half the therapy posts in the north of the county, it has been revealed, with local political representatives backing the demand made by disability campaigner Cara Darmody, that the Government backs tackle long waiting lists for Assessment of Need.

Last week, Cara Darmody, a teenage campaigner for disability rights, spent 50 hours camped outside the Dáil to demand that the Government address the large waiting lists for children waiting for an assessment for disability or autism.

Her demands were supported, both in Leinster House, and outside, by local representatives. Louth Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú, Sinn Féin's disability spokesperson, took part in a debate in Leinster House that was organised by the combined opposition parties, while Louth People Before Profit (PBP) representative, James Renaghan, committed to work with campaigners and parents with children with additional needs, to ensure that those needing assessment of need get what they are legally entitled within the legally mandated time frame.

Speaking in the Dáíl last week, Deputy Ó Murchú said the fact that a 14-year-old had to sit outside Leinster House for two nights was “particularly sad”. Deputy Ó Murchú told the Dáil that “the only thing there is going to be agreement on across the Chamber is that there has been a failure to deliver and none of this is good enough. The Government has to take responsibility for its failures.”

He continued: “We talk about a single point of access and we know that even those who are lucky enough to get therapies or an assessment still have to make the journey and deal with elected representatives. That is the sign of a system that does not work. There are 902 people on the waiting list in Louth for AON, with 245 waiting over 12 months. That does not sound like much of a success.

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“There are 15,296 children who have been failed. We cannot talk about success when, by the end of the year, we could be talking about 24,796 children not having received an assessment of need within six months. Government is talking about removing one of the few rights that people have. They are going to exercise this right because they are failing to get the service from the State that they absolutely deserve and that is required”.

The Louth TD continued, highlighting the huge rate of vacancies in the disability network team in north Louth. “Not to take away from the great work that is done by many people”, he said, “but if you look at the children's disability network team in north Louth, 53% of occupational therapist posts are vacant, as are 52% of speech and language therapist and 48% of psychologist posts.

“If you exclude administrative staff, there is a 36% vacancy rate across the board. There has been a failure to deliver, we need to see real delivery and this is just not good enough”.

Paying tribute to Cara Darmody and backing her demand for the Government to tackle the long waiting lists for Assessment of Need, Louth PBP representative, James Renaghan said that “Cara Darmody forced Assessment of Need to the top of the Dáil agenda last week through her bravery in protesting outside the Dáil for 50 hours.

“This has forced the Government to sit up and pay attention. But it is a disgrace that Cara and other disability campaigners are having to resort to sleep-outs outside the Dáil to try to enforce their legal rights”.

Mr Renaghan continued: “What sort of society are we living in where children have a constitutional right to an education and a right to an appropriate education in their community under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and where in law you have the right to an assessment of need within six months, yet people have to sleep out outside the gates of the national Parliament to try to enforce what are already their legal rights?

“Fifteen years ago 1,000 children were waiting on assessments of need, now there are more than 15,000 waiting. The HSE projects that the waiting list will rise to 25,000 by the end of this year. This is all because the Government has consistently failed and continues to fail to plan for needs it knows exist.

“The average waiting time for an assessment of need is now more than two years, during which a child cannot access the therapies they need in the public system. It is a way of rationing resources, forcing those who can afford it to go private and saving money for the Government regardless of the human cost.

“It is grotesque that the State, the Government, is breaking its own law and 25 families a month take the State to court to get what they are already legally entitled to”.

Mr Renaghan added, “campaigners like Cara Darmody continue to mobilise and are putting growing pressure on the Government to take meaningful action. I will work with campaigners and parents with children with additional needs to put pressure on the local Government representatives to ensure that all those needing assessment of need get what they are legally entitled within the legally mandated time frame”.