Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank Inclusion Ireland for its presentation. It is probably no exaggeration to say that the past four months have been the most challenging for families and children with special needs. Those difficulties have been amplified by the lack of routine and structure. Those services were a lifeline for children and families and this was suddenly taken away. Some of the news reports have been deeply upsetting, even to watch. Families are at home, they are isolated, they have children with sometimes challenging behaviour and difficult needs and there is no outlet. Anybody looking at those reports would be very moved by the situation. I worked in special needs myself prior to getting elected and I know the staff and teachers have been deeply affected as well by the situation in the past four months. They are in a situation where they cannot give back to their pupils and the service users.

I have three questions. One is about the guidelines for July provision which are quite confusing for service users and schools themselves. Second, September day services are going to look very different from how the classroom looked in March. I am not sure if anybody can answer this question, but there are some students and some children who will take a considerable amount of time to come back to any sort of educational setting because of the complicated needs relating to the public health emergency. They might never come back to that school setting or day service. In those situations, resources must be put in place for families who find themselves in a position where their child cannot access any services outside the home. That is the most challenging of all. Could the witnesses give some sort of guidance on those questions?