Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is not the policy, nor should it be the policy, that responses occur via protests alone. Every child is entitled, in my view, to the fundamentals. There was a court action which effectively meant the HSE had to go back to the drawing board with regard to the assessment of need process. We may have to look at legislation in that respect. It would be interesting to see how the Oireachtas would respond to such legislation. Assessment is very important, and proper intervention should follow. I am on record as saying that the HSE's response to some of those interventions, which is that it cannot recruit to the CDNTs and so on, has not been satisfactory. I would have a view, as I have for quite a long time, regarding alternative ways of dealing with this. We are progressing that in the Government at the moment.

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