The Minister of State with responsibility for disability issues has acknowledged there is still a lot of work to do for children with disabilities despite an improvement in services.
Minister of State Finian McGrath said that he "fully understands how the delay in accessing services is affecting families" and that the "HSE has taken a number of initiatives to address excessive waiting times."
Mr McGrath said he has identified the blockages in the system and pledged the recruitment of 100 extra therapy posts to be in place by the end of the year, and the appointment of children's disability network managers to head up teams.
In a debate on the issue this evening, Labour TD Alan Kelly said in all his time in politics he has never seen as big a crisis in service provision for children who need them.
"The HSE has failed to conduct assessments of thousands of children in time but if you've money you can get them done," he said.
Mr Kelly also told the Dáil about one case in Dublin the parents of a nine-year-old from Tallaght, who was assessed as having high-level functioning autism, were told that they have to wait 44 months for an appointment for their child.
He told Mr McGrath that it "wouldn't surprise me in some years to come that there are some class actions against the state because of a failure of duty."
Sinn Féin TD Sean Crowe told the chamber that many families are resorting to the courts in a desperate attempt to get help and assistance for their child.
Mr Crowe cited Chamber House in Dublin, which provides disability services in Tallaght, is missing a key amount of personnel.
