Not “one red cent” of an €8 million “game-changer” HSE fund has been provided to families of children with special needs in the 17 months since it was promised, the Dáil has heard.
Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty highlighted what he called “another scandal” in relation to the Children’s Disability Service Grant.
Then minister of State Anne Rabbitte announced the scheme in October 2023 as an emergency stopgap to fund urgently needed services and therapies for children with special needs.
Some 52 organisations were to benefit and the funding was to be allocated within weeks.
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Mr Doherty said his county of Donegal had become “a black spot for children with special needs”.
He cited the case of Denise McGahern’s nine-year-old son Jack, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, who was to benefit from the scheme.
“Denise has been fighting for physio and speech and language therapy that he so desperately needs,” Mr Doherty said.
But nothing happened for months. Two days before the local elections in June 2024, Ms Rabbitte travelled to Donegal and announced that €3.6 million was to be provided in Donegal to four organisations.
Mr Doherty said Ms McGahern was contacted to attend the press conference and she and her son were included in photos with the minister, who described the funding as “an absolute game-changer”.
However, he said 17 months after the first announcement “not one red cent” has been provided.
The Donegal TD said he sought answers and was told by the Department of Health that “not only is there no money, but that this money was never there at all”.
He said it was “scandalous”. He spoke to Ms McGahern on Wednesday and “she is devastated” and “feels betrayed”.
She feels Jack was used as “a prop in a photo opportunity during an election campaign”, Mr Doherty said.
Mr Doherty said “this was cruel” and asked “how could a minister announce funding to organisations when the money didn’t exist?”
Tánaiste Simon Harris said the funding should be released and “I’m going to make sure it’s provided.” He said the issue needs to be resolved “and “I regret it has gone on as long as it has.”
Mr Harris described the scheme as “an innovative and good idea” to find another mechanism to provide much-needed “stopgap funding” for vital services.
He said: “I’m not going to stand up and defend something that cannot be defended.”
He said “the HSE has a level of funding that is almost eye watering and €8 million is a rounding error. And the idea that €8 million could make a fundamental difference to the lives of so many children, including in their own county, and hasn’t yet been provided is extraordinarily frustrating”.
Separately, acting Social Democrats leader Cian O’Callaghan highlighted the more than 41,000 children with additional needs who are still waiting for an initial assessment of needs.
Describing the figures as “shameful”, Mr O’Callaghan said children with additional needs are being failed and parents are at breaking point.
He said the only way for families “to get assessment of need is to take legal action”. He said the HSE had spent €8 million on legal fees in these cases that would provide 180 therapist jobs.
The Tánaiste said it is “one of the most serious issues we face in public service”.
He added that the system has to be reformed, which may require legislative change. He acknowledged that waiting lists were far too long and said therapists spend one-third of their working week on assessment rather than on provision of therapies.
