Children’s waiting lists are just “being hidden”, says TD Donnelly

Sinn Féin TD for Dublin west Paul Donnelly, has called for cross-party support for Sinn Féin’s motion that would instruct the government to “stop shirking its responsibilities for the care of children with additional needs.”

The motion will be introduced to the Dáil tomorrow today, and seeks to remove the barriers put in place that prevent parents accessing the care their children need.

Sinn Fein says that despite government claims, waiting lists have not been reduced, and are in reality “being hidden.”

Deputy Donnelly said waiting lists for assessments have “been spiralling out of control for years,” and it is getting to the point “where parents are forced to bring the HSE to court to get their child assessed.”

“The Minister has said that waiting lists are being dramatically reduced. The reality is that this has been an exercise in deception,” he says.

“Waiting lists have not been reduced, they are being hidden.

“Changes implemented that the government claimed would facilitate the timely completion of assessments have not done so, nor have they reduced the waiting lists for children to receive a full assessment of need.

“Instead, what was introduced is a very short preliminary assessment which, once finished, moves children on to yet another waiting list for further assessment from which there is no legal obligation on the HSE to complete within a specific time frame.

“Figures released by the Minister claiming significant numbers of children were receiving assessments in fact only reflect children who received that short, inadequate, preliminary assessment.

“This is smoke and mirrors.

These children are not receiving proper assessments nor are they accessing the therapeutic interventions that they require,” Deputy Donnelly says.

“This is a cynical act of shirking responsibility for protecting children’s rights.”

Donnelly says that children have the legal right to be assessed for a need within six months of when an application is filed by their parents of guardians.

“The government does not come close to fulfilling its legal obligations to protect children’s rights, nor does it have the appetite or vision to fix our broken disability service,” he says.

“I urge all TDs to support our motion to ensure children can receive appropriate, comprehensive, clinically ethical and timely assessments of need, and access to the therapeutic interventions they need.”