Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That the Joint Committee on Autism

— notes the evidence of parents of autistic children and other stakeholders about difficulties with the Summer Programme

and while not having met all the key stakeholders, given the urgency of the current situation, calls on the Minister for Education to:

— ensure that all autistic children will have access to the Summer Programme in 2023;

— ensure that all Special Schools will provide the Summer Programme in 2023;

— provide sufficient resources to schools in order that they may offer a comprehensive provision of the Summer Programme in 2023;

— liaise with the various stakeholders to ensure that increased numbers of schools participate in the Summer Programme, bringing the resources of Schools together where needed, thereby ensuring that a programme is available in every large town in the country;

— mitigate any constraints to the provision of the Summer Programme including staffing issues such as delays in payment to teachers and SNAs (Special Needs Assistants), resolve any pay anomalies, and to broaden the potential workforce e.g. OTs (Occupational Therapists), SLTs (Speech and Language Therapists), early childcare workers, and include suitable student placements;

— mitigate any difficulties with Garda vetting to allow staff to move from one school to another school easily.