Mr. Adam Harris:

I thank the committee for its invitation to present to it today on this important topic. I also thank committee members for engaging with us on this important topic in recent times. This is an imperative issue for our community that touches on many aspects of the education system. It is challenging to cover everything in the opening statement but I will follow up with further documentation for members after today's meeting.

AsIAm is Ireland's national autism charity and we are working towards an Ireland where all autistic people can be accepted as they are. One in 65 people in our school system today has a diagnosis of autism. Of these young people, 14% attend special schools, 21% are enrolled in a special class attached to a mainstream school and the majority, that is, 65%, attend mainstream classrooms with their neurotypical peers.

It is worth considering what children with disabilities and autistic students face when it comes to accessing the right to education. For the vast majority of children and families, seeking access to an appropriate school place is something they can take for granted but for many of our families it is the first of many battles, as we have seen recently in Cork where a significant number of young people do not have a suitable secondary school place for September. Securing a school place tends to be just the start of a series of battles to get the support and understanding needed and to have an opportunity to learn in the school environment.

The EPSEN Act was set up to try to address many of these issues. Its lack of implementation has meant that they have persisted. Not only that but very often families have been without a formal voice in the educational journey of their children.

It is important to recognise that many children who are now integrated and involved within mainstream school were not only a short time ago. It is not that long ago that there were even efforts not to recognise the right of all children with disabilities to an appropriate education. However, we should not confuse this with inclusion. We will not have achieved an inclusive education system until every child is able to attend a school and to have the opportunity to learn fully, and it seems we are still, unfortunately, a long way from that point. We believe it is absolutely imperative that the Department of Education take a rights-based approach to providing supports for students with additional needs. The rights of students and the voice and experience of students with additional needs must be at the centre of this process, and we do not think non-statutory supports or approaches go far enough. If we need to see evidence of that, we need only point to the shortfalls, the lack of supports and the experiences of too many young people that have persisted across the country. We remain convinced that the only way to ensure that children have the support they need and that schools are appropriately resourced and supported is to put in place statutory supports and mechanisms as proposed by the EPSEN Act 2004.

We think this needs to take place through a number of steps. First and foremost, we would like the committee to commence a legislative review of the Act. We recognise there are parts of the Act that need further amendment to bring them into line with the UN convention prior to their implementation. We also recognise that some areas of the Act, if they were appropriately resourced, could be implemented now. We would therefore like the committee to conduct a review to identify where the Act sits within our current education system and to make a plan for it. We welcome the fact that the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, has indicated an openness to updating and amending the EPSEN Act. We would like the committee, on foot of its legislative review, to propose an amended version of the Act and to bring that forward to the Oireachtas for passage and implementation. We think it is very important that any commencement of the EPSEN Act is accompanied by the required resources and a clear roadmap with times and deadlines for how that will take place.

Finally, legislation is a key part of how we create an inclusive education system but it must go hand in hand with cultural change. As we have seen in recent times, too often families and students with disabilities have faced an adversarial system. Our education authorities must place the voices of families at the centre of every stage of the decision-making process, from the individual journey to the overall policy platform. It is very important that our education authorities become collaborators, not gatekeepers. I thank the committee and I look forward to members' questions.