Psychological Assessments
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-18
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Louise O'Reilly (SF), Dublin Fingal West

I suppose the Minister of State's recognition of the scale of the problem is welcome. I know she was not making a massive deal out of it, but going from 1,893 to 1,841 is nothing to be proud of really. She should probably be a bit mortified. That figure of 1,841 children in my area represents families that are just left waiting. They feel very much abandoned. On the establishment of 11 new teams, the Minister of State might indicate in her second reply how many additional staff that will provide. Will they be joined up with the children's disability network teams, CDNTs? Will they be joined up with community healthcare organisations, CHOs, local health offices, LHOs, and the network? Will they be a stand-alone network of their own? She might explain to me how that will work. She might address the use of BNPL offers. It is debt built up by people who cannot afford to pay out of their own pocket for a service that the State is legally mandated to provide for their kids. They are getting themselves into debt for a service that they have a lawful entitlement to. That is a fairly damning indictment.
I appreciate the Minister of State is not long in the job but her party has been more than 14 years in government. The evidence of kids being failed, specifically the 1,841 in north Dublin, is all around us. I have already outlined teachers' serious concerns over what was in the Government's press statement. Teachers in this area, with the interests of the kids at heart, do not trust that what the Government is saying will work. There is no clarity there and I hope the Minister of State will be able to put some clarity on it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-18