Disabilities Assessments
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17
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Matt Carthy (SF), Cavan-Monaghan

To be clear, this is an important point. I asked, through a parliamentary question, as is my constitutional right, for the assessment of need number in Cavan and Monaghan, by county. The Minister of State is telling me that the HSE does not provide that. I am telling her it did provide it, as recently as January. I am aware of that because I have a parliamentary question response. That is telling. If it is not dealing with the Minister of State and sending her into this Chamber with a shortfall in the information she has been asked for, how can she trust it in respect of what I contend is the much more serious matter that just in Cavan and Monaghan, 634 children being failed? They are not only being failed in a moral sense but are being absolutely failed in a legal sense. The Government is breaking the law in respect of these children, and despite the assurances the Minister of State and others have provided to us, this has real-life implications. Many of these 634 children are being denied access to other services because their assessment of need has not been carried out. This Government needs to get a grip on it. I have been here since 2020. I have been listening to the same rhetoric from Ministers about all the measures that are going to be taken to improve matters but it is going to take a little bit of time.

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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