Disability (Amendment) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Thomas Gould (SF), Cork North-Central

It is unbelievable that we have to come in here every year to talk about the issues with services for children with additional needs and children awaiting an assessment of need. The average waiting time in Cork at the moment is 27 months, notwithstanding the legal requirement that all children should receive their assessments of need within six months. I spoke to a woman yesterday who had received a letter stating that her child would be waiting 36 months for assessment, which is six times longer than the legally permitted time.
Government members come into this Chamber trying to cod the people. They are trying to cod the parents who have to fight every day for their children with additional needs or disabilities. The Minister needs to do her job and address this issue. I have a list in my hand of children with additional needs, special needs and disabilities who are not in school right now because they have no school transport. I spoke to a grandparent yesterday who was driving his grandson to school from Blarney Street in Cork city to Fermoy three days a week. School starts at 9 a.m. and this grandfather waits three hours in Fermoy before collecting the boy at noon and driving him home. How can anyone be expected to do that every day? That child misses two days of school a week. I know of other children who are at home because there is no school transport.
Where are the extra resources? Where are the occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists and SNAs people need? Where are the school places and the school transport? Children are being sent from Ballincollig out to Boherbue and Macroom. Children from Knocknaheeny and Mayfield are being sent down to Rochestown. Children from the northside of Cork city are being sent to Fermoy, which is a 40-minute drive. Why are places and services not being provided in communities for the children who need them? It is not right.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23