Ms Lorraine Dempsey:

It was alluded to earlier that particular geographical areas do not have more children with autism but we have pockets of areas that are reluctant to open any form of special class. We also find with the applied leaving certificate that there are pockets of the country where schools perhaps see it as a lesser programme to offer to students and would rater leave it to DEIS schools. I do not think I need delve any further into what I am alluding to. For children with intellectual disabilities who might successfully transition from a mainstream primary school to a mainstream post-primary school, there comes a point because they do not have those adapted programmes available to them that the only option is to go to a special school. Straight off we have set them up for failure in this respect because it was not the plan they set out with.

With regard to SENOs, what parents really want are advocates. We have a national advocacy service that parents contact but it deals only with somebody over the age of 18. Who do people go to? They go to non-government funded organisations, they go to voluntary parent support groups and they go to Facebook groups to get information in the hope that somebody will advocate for them when, in effect, the SENOs should have been set up to advocate and guide parents from preschool transition to primary school and not to leave parents with a list. At this stage, we should be smart enough to have a database of where the vacant places are and not have duplication of waiting lists for special classes.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is examining, on a national level, what is required in the context of parent supports. We are specifically looking to see what are the additional parent supports needed to be able to guide parents of children with disabilities in the absence of disability supports and key workers and identify who can help them navigate not only through the education system but also through the social protection system and all of the other schemes and assessments about which they need to know and bring them along on the journey rather than just give them a booklet containing information.

What we are really looking for under the EPSEN Act is education equality. Mr. Harris spoke about his personal experience. I have twins and I have spoken about them previously. They are 17 and they have very different pathways in education. They started off together in junior infants in a mainstream school but that is not where they will end up. It is bitter for families to have to make decisions on the basis of not having the right supports available to them to allow their children to continue in mainstream settings. If anything, this is something we need to address on a statutory footing.