Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses are all very welcome. My main question is on access to school places. I was horrified to learn what families are expected to do in order to access a place for their child if their child has an autism diagnosis. The process seems to be that a special education needs organiser will hand the parent a list of schools and wish them the best of luck. The parent will go to as many schools as he or she can in order to access the school place, whether primary or secondary. I know of parents who have gone to 15, 16 or 17 schools. I represent a constituency on the north side of Dublin and the lists of schools given to parents include schools in Drogheda. Parents may also access home tuition. I do not know any of us who is qualified to employ a tutor, whether during a pandemic or otherwise, who could adequately fulfil the needs of home tuition but this is what we are expecting people to do. Not only are parents dealing with a challenging situation of a diagnosis but they must almost go to war with the system to access a school place. There seems to be no absolute right to a school place.

I spoke to a woman in my constituency yesterday who was in tears over the situation. She sent me a message to say her son has autism and there is no secondary school place for him until next year. He needs a special school placement as he has moderate autism, non-verbal skills, to be taught life skills, etc. She has been applying to special schools for the past four years with no success. He meets the enrolment criteria for the school's catchment area but because his needs require more help, a class space with compatible peers cannot be found.

I know the Education (Admissions to Schools) Act changed the position and the Minister now has more powers to intervene in certain schools to meet the type of need that has been described at this meeting. How can the Department stand over a system in which a SENO hands a list of schools to a parent and abrogates responsibility?