Departmental Legal Cases
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17
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Thomas Gould (SF), Cork North-Central

I want to confirm something. Did the Minister of State say the amount spent in Cork was €4,980? I find that figure unbelievable. I ask her not only to check that figure but also to include the amount that is paid by this State for families to bring these cases. I will tell the Minister why I find the figure unbelievable. Last year, nationally, the State spent €10.5 million defending approximately 1,000 cases of assessment of need that were overdue. This Government is therefore spending more money fighting families in the courts than providing assessments of need for children who desperately need them. Without the assessments of need, those children cannot get the supports they need in the services. They also cannot get the supports they need and the services they need when they go to school. This Government's decision is to fight it. To give the Minister of State another figure, only 7% of assessments of need in Cork were completed on time. These children have rights, and this Government just does not seem to give a damn. These figures speak for themselves.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-17