Paul Murphy: Condemns State over Long Disability Assessment Waits
Paul Murphy spoke in the Dáil about systemic failures in disability services, condemning long waits for assessments and the Government's handling of legal rights. He said families and campaigners, including Cara Darmody, have been forced to sleep outside the Dáil to demand timely assessments and appropriate education.
Paul Murphy opened by thanking Cara Darmody for forcing the issue onto the Dáil agenda, noting her 50-hour protest outside the gates. He described it as a disgrace that campaigners and parents of children with additional needs must resort to sleepouts to try to enforce rights already enshrined in law.
He reminded the Dáil that children have constitutional and UN Convention rights to an appropriate education and a statutory right to an assessment of needs within six months. Murphy accused the state of breaking its own laws and highlighted that around 25 families a month take the State to court to obtain assessments.
Murphy cited long-term trends, saying 15 years ago there were about 1,000 children waiting for assessments and now there are more than 15,000, with the HSE projecting this could reach 25,000 by year-end. He pointed out the average waiting time for an assessment is now over two years and argued that recent increases in completed assessments are insufficient against rising demand.
He criticised the Government's response as tea and sympathy without real action, rejecting explanations that blame service models like the CDNTs. Murphy welcomed therapists in schools but said shifting location does not solve high vacancy rates or the underlying resource shortages. He also criticised talk of changing the law rather than ensuring existing legal rights are met on time.
Murphy argued the delays amount to rationing public resources, forcing families who can afford private therapy to go private and creating inequities for those unaware of legal remedies. He asked whether a motion expected to pass that night would lead to meaningful action, warning the roots of the crisis are deep and of the Government's own making.
Campaign and protest
Paul Murphy opened by thanking Cara Darmody for forcing the issue onto the Dáil agenda, noting her 50-hour protest outside the gates. He described it as a disgrace that campaigners and parents of children with additional needs must resort to sleepouts to try to enforce rights already enshrined in law.
Legal rights and state failures
He reminded the Dáil that children have constitutional and UN Convention rights to an appropriate education and a statutory right to an assessment of needs within six months. Murphy accused the state of breaking its own laws and highlighted that around 25 families a month take the State to court to obtain assessments.
Waiting lists and statistics
Murphy cited long-term trends, saying 15 years ago there were about 1,000 children waiting for assessments and now there are more than 15,000, with the HSE projecting this could reach 25,000 by year-end. He pointed out the average waiting time for an assessment is now over two years and argued that recent increases in completed assessments are insufficient against rising demand.
Government response and policy critique
He criticised the Government's response as tea and sympathy without real action, rejecting explanations that blame service models like the CDNTs. Murphy welcomed therapists in schools but said shifting location does not solve high vacancy rates or the underlying resource shortages. He also criticised talk of changing the law rather than ensuring existing legal rights are met on time.
Consequences for families and future action
Murphy argued the delays amount to rationing public resources, forcing families who can afford private therapy to go private and creating inequities for those unaware of legal remedies. He asked whether a motion expected to pass that night would lead to meaningful action, warning the roots of the crisis are deep and of the Government's own making.
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Transcript
First of all, I want to start by thanking Cara Darmody for forcing this issue onto the Dáil agenda. Her bravery in protesting outside the Dáil for 50 hours has forced the Government to sit up and pay attention. But I want to make a very obvious point, that it is a disgrace that Cara and other disability campaigners, including the parents of children with additional needs, are having to resort to sleepouts outside the Dáil to try to enforce their legal rights. I mean, what sort of society are we living in where children, for example, have a constitutional right to an education, they have a clear right to an appropriate education in their community under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, where in law you have the right to an assessment of needs within six months, and then we have these rights enshrined, we've had these debates, we've passed these laws, in some cases we have a constitution, we have a UN Convention, and yet people have to sleep out outside the gates of the National Parliament to try to enforce what is already their legal rights. I mean, that isn't, even a basic republic isn't meant to act in that fashion. You're meant to have a democratic discussion, you pass laws, the laws are meant to be implemented. It is like reminiscent of something like what you read about in Tsarist Russia, of people petitioning the Tsar for their rights to be met. It is obscene that this is becoming a regular feature of disability justice campaigners having to sleep outside our National Parliament, urging for their rights to be met, or on a smaller scale. I mean, I'm sure others are in the same position, what Brian was speaking about is exactly the similar situation in Dublin South West. And, you know, the issue of parents of children with additional needs coming to me is now I definitely say the second issue after housing that comes to me, and I now have a close relationship with solicitors who I immediately put parents in touch with and say, you know, you can take the state to court for that. That's incredible. Look, the state is breaking its own laws, and then we, I think correctly, have to encourage people to take the state to court just to get the state to move, because it works. People know that if you go and take the state to court, you will get your assessment of needs eventually. Similarly, by the way, you can take the state to court for not meeting your educational needs. But again, it's obscene that we have this situation whereby we have a law, the state is breaking, the government is breaking its own law, and then 25 families a month have to take the state to court at significant expense, not to them, but to the state in order for this to happen. And it also introduces, I mean, the parents are absolutely right to do it, they're fighting for what they can for their kids. But it creates another inequity, whereby those parents with the means to do it, and it doesn't cost any money to be clear to people, there's many solicitors who will do it for nothing, and then they win the case, and the state will pay. But those who know that this exists as an avenue and so on, that they're the ones who end up getting the assessment of needs, not on time, but more on time than those that don't know that this is a route that they can take. It's really outrageous. And the pattern for the government has been one of tea and sympathy on these issues, but no real action where it counts. The motion will be passed tonight, that's welcome, but then will they act? And the problem for the government is that the roots of this crisis run deep, and are all of its own making. 15 years ago, there was 1000 children waiting on assessments of need. Now there's more than 15,000. The HSE is projecting that to rise to 25,000 by the end of this year. And I know in the Minister's speech earlier, she spoke about welcome progress in terms of the increase in the number of assessments that have been done. But in the context of the increased need which is overwhelming the system, I think it's very, very difficult to talk about progress. And the reason is that the government has consistently failed to plan for needs that it knows exist. Not only that, it has actively ignored those needs by ensuring that assessment of individual needs are delayed. And it should be emphasised, as has been mentioned, that this is just the start of a journey of long waiting lists of being let down, of being disappointed, of precisely being offered group sessions for parents, fine, but when people actually want their kids to get the necessary therapies and supports that they need. The average waiting time for assessment of needs is now over two years. It's two years in which a child cannot access the therapies that they need in the public system. And it's a way of rationing resources, of forcing those who can afford it to go private, and of saving money for the government, regardless of the human cost. And the government now, when faced with determined campaigners, like Cara Darmody, like the equality and education campaigners, may be regretting its extreme rationing of resources, which has created the current prices. But there's an attempt to find other people and other systems to blame, in my opinion. The Taoiseach's remarks earlier, effectively blaming the model of the CDNTs, misses the point. Like, I welcome therapists going into schools, I think it makes sense to have therapists in schools, but it doesn't deal with the fundamental problem in terms of the high level of vacancies. Situating in the schools versus situating in the CDNTs won't deal with the fundamental issue in terms of the resources. Or the talk of changing the law, which to me, I have to say, every time I hear it, I hear that the government is breaching the law, and instead of stopping breaching the law, you want to change the law, so you're not breaching it, but not actually dealing with providing the assessment of needs in time. The fundamental issues are the years of restricting the number of college places for therapists, there's 25 to 40, in most specialists when we should be having 100 plus a year. The years of austerity cuts, and underfunding of the health service, the pay in numbers strategy, for example, the years of enabling the housing crisis to get worse and worse, so rents and property prices will rise. There is an alternative, there's plenty of actions that the government could take, bonuses, speed up recognition, improved training, I could go on and on.