LAST UPDATE | 20 Nov 2024

FIANNA FÁIL PARTY leader Micheál Martin today hit out at the HSE and the Green Party for a lack of progress in delivering school-based therapies for children with disabilities.

Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin both separately launched their disability policies in Dublin earlier today.

Sinn Féin said there had been a “decades-long failure” of successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil governments to provide for disabled people.

Meanwhile, Dublin South-Central Fianna Fáil candidate, and former senator, Catherine Ardagh spoke about her personal experience with the system.

“As a mother of a son with autism who is non verbal, I know first hand the daily struggles families face. My son, Darragh, is full of potential and brings us so much happiness and love, but like so many other children, he’s held back by the system that hasn’t caught up with our family’s needs,” she said.

Standing next to her party leader, she added:

“This week, many families, including my own, have received rejection letters to school places across the country.

It’s frustrating, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s absolutely exhausting, and it’s a reality that no family should have to face.

She called for “real change”, stating that a nationwide roll out of a one-stop-shop for school applications, whereby there is visibility on school availability. She said this would remove the administrative burden on parents and ensures no child is left without a school place.

Fianna Fail party leader Micheal Martin and Catherine Ardagh with her twins boys Darragh and Sean McShea shortly after they were born in 2020. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

Speaking at his party’s launch, Martin said a new national therapy service in schools is a “red-line issue” for Fianna Fáil in any future programme for government and that significant investment and reform is needed in disability services.

The Tánaiste said he wanted to address gaps in children’s disability network teams (CDNT) and roll out a new national therapy service in education, which would see a multidisciplinary response including therapists directly providing therapy in schools.

Assessment wait times

He added that too many families were waiting too long for assessments of need, which are a HSE process to identify a child’s needs and must be completed within six months.

Fianna Fáil would “ramp up” the numbers of therapy clinicians and assistants, as well as occupational and speech and language therapists, the Tánaiste pledged.

He admitted that these measures, along with an increase in regional assessment hubs, would “take time” – adding that his party would ensure increased procurement of private assessments in the interim.

Pressed on what would be different about a future Fianna Fáil term, the Tánaiste blamed HSE delivery and recruitment of therapists.

“The recruitment and retention plans are not working. There seems to be a morale issue, a human resources issue, an overload issue within the CDNT teams.”

He said there was a “fundamental issue” of the system not delivering on services: “It’s unfinished business as far as I am concerned.”

Martin also said there was “resistance” from Green Party leader and Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman to Fianna Fáil’s school-based approach, who instead preferred a programme within the HSE.

Fianna Fáil’s plan includes the development of a disabled person’s organisation, the expansion of summer provision, the increase of the disability support grant to 1,000 euro, doubling the housing adaptation grant, adding 20,000 personal assistance hours, and public sector pay parity for section 39 staff.

Fianna Fáil has held the Health and Education portfolios for the last four-and-a-half years, along with the Minister of State role for disability.

Asked if she was frustrated by a lack of progress, Ardagh said 1,700 special classes had been introduced since 2020 but added there was a need for further ambition: “We’ve come from the ground, and we need to reach the treetops.”

Martin added that there needed to be obligations around inclusion at every school in the country.

Elsewhere, Sinn Féin said it would fully staff CDNT teams amid reports of 800 vacancies.

Sinn Féin disability spokeswoman Pauline Tully said her party would increase annual current funding for disability supports by €829 million and provide €659 million of additional capital beyond what has been pre-committed for existing levels of service.

She said Sinn Féin would ensure disabled children have their needs assessed, have school places, and summer provision of support.

Tully said her party in government would make sure young disabled people are supported to pursuit their goals in education and employment.

She added that adults with disabilities will be supported to live independent lives.

Elsewhere, the party has committed to providing 3,000 additional residential places for people with disabilities, expanding day service places by 4,000 and adding 345,000 personal assistance hours annually.

At the start of the election campaign, Sinn Féin briefly parked a small truck with a billboard over double yellow lines and a footpath for a press conference on Dublin’s Merrion Street.

Asked if her party had to do more internally to promote inclusion and accessibility, Sinn Fein employment spokeswoman Louise O’Reilly said: “We’ve done a huge amount of thinking about disabled people and, indeed, sometimes we are constrained by logistics – that happens.”

She added: “Sometimes in the teeth of an election campaign, you don’t always get to the venue that you want.”

O’Reilly said the party makes “every effort” on accessibility, adding that Sinn Féin was seeking a “holistic” approach around employment strategies and universal access to public transport in the country.

She said that, for her own part, her constituency offices are fully accessible.

Includes reporting from Cillian Sherlock, Press Association.