Assessment of needs crisis “should be enough to bring down government” says Donnelly

Local Sinn Féin TD Paul Donnelly said that the crisis in assessment of needs “should be enough to bring down the government.”

The Dublin West TD was speaking in the Dáil this week as the issue, which has become a thorn in the government’s side, was debated once again.

This week, Minister for Education Norma Foley said “more needs to be done” to help the 43,000 children who are currently supported by local CDNT teams, with or without an assessment of need. 

Over the course of 2025, Northside People has run a series of articles highlighting the issues facing parents and educators alike, with protests taking place outside the Dáil and the Department Of Education in a bid to force the government’s hand on the issue.

Despite repeated assurances from Taoiseach Micheál Martin that the issue is a priority for government, Donnelly said the government’s handling of the issue was lacking.

“I am always gobsmacked at how the Taoiseach can sound like he has only walked into the building and suddenly found himself in the position he is in,” he said in the Dáil this week.

It is the same when I hear Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs who have actually been in power. Some Fine Gael TDs have been in power for 14 years; that is 14 years of increasing waiting lists.”

He said there are no consequences for the government, while children, parents and educators face into yet another academic year of uncertainty and lack of services and supports.

Donnelly says he deals with “dozens” of cases in his office, and “each parent is desperately trying to get a service for their child.”

“This really should be enough to bring a government down; it should be enough to call an emergency.”

The Sinn Féin TD said, “during the economic crash, Fianna Fáil spent, over a weekend, €72 billion of our money, and our children and grandchildren’s money, on the bondholders and bankers.”

“In the Covid crisis, mountains were moved in an instant. Things were changed within weeks and days. What is the difference here? We have potentially 24,000 children whose lives will be, possibly, irreparably damaged because of a lack of access to the services they are entitled to.”

“The law says they are entitled to them. This government is breaking that law. I want the government to call an emergency because that is what we are looking at in this regard.”

Donnelly called on the government to “call an emergency and take extraordinary measures to ensure each child has a service, a school place and therapeutic intervention when they need it. They are not big asks.”