‘Trepidation and worry’ in Louth over changes to Disability Act

There is a ‘huge level of trepidation and worry’ over changes to the Disability Act that have been proposed by the government, Louth Sinn Féin TD, Ruairí Ó Murchú has told the Dáil.

The Dundalk TD and Sinn Féin spokesperson on disabilities made the comments during a debate last week after the government introduced the Disability (Amendment) Bill which makes technical changes to the Assessment of Need (AON) process.

Deputy Ó Murchú said one of the reasons that the bill is being introduced is because of the 23,282 children, including 1,286 in Louth, who are waiting more than six months for an AON, with many waiting years for one.

He said: “We all know that even those who have got an assessment of need do not necessarily get the service plan in the time required, nor do they receive the therapies and supports, which is the biggest issue that remains for families.

“I would like to think when we are introducing legislation on assessment of need that there would be some glimpse of light in terms of how we are going to deliver”.

He said he was concerned about the mechanisms in the legislation that allow for children to be removed from the waiting list under certain circumstances. He said there is a need for a ‘consistent, streamlined approach’.

He said that while he accepted the bill does not remove the legal right to an AON, there remains an urgent need to ensure that children are given the proper therapies and interventions they need as soon as possible.

Deputy Ó Murchú said: “Unfortunately, across all of this, we do not see anything about an increase in the number of occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, psychologists and physiotherapists, who are absolutely necessary”.

He also wanted to know when the in-reach teams, outlined in the legislation, will be up and running.

The Louth TD said: “I have always thought it would be incredibly difficult to see delivery on the numbers that are missing from primary care and children's disability network teams, CDNTs, while also trying to fill this third stratum to deal with the autism assessments”.

“And in-school therapies are ‘incredibly important’.

Deputy Ó Murchú said: “I would like for us to have a more fundamental conversation about the Disability Act.

"We were talking to those occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and psychologists about how to deliver a system and a service that worked.

“There are an awful lot of questions to answer, but at the minute, we are talking about breaking the law and failure to deliver”.