Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat to Deputy Ó Murchú for conceding. I was not here for the whole duration of the meeting, but I was listening from the office. I thank our guests for the work that they are doing and the important contributions that they made today and those they continue to make.

The reason I am here is to ask the guests’ advice in particular around the children who are falling through the net. I will give an example of a 13-year-old boy from north Mayo who has Down's syndrome, is autistic and has some sensory issues as well. He is locked of a school place, so does not have one. He was going very well up until lockdown and then was impacted by that. I want to ask the guests about this. He was then put into a service where there were profound disabilities - where he was the only verbal person in it and the only one who could walk as well. He started to rapidly deteriorate from that. His parents have tried to get him into a local service. It does not seem to be an issue of resources, in the sense that the special education needs organiser, SENO, in fairness, said that whatever resources are needed can be supplied for this child to uphold his right to an education. However, it is said that not all of the assessments are being done - I refer to the physiotherapy, the speech therapy, the occupation therapy and the other reports. All of the boxes are not able to be ticked and meanwhile we have a 13-year-old child who is denied an education. I want to ask the advice of the witnesses on how we can tackle that and make sure that his rights are upheld.

Some children are less equal to others. If he was a child who was not autistic, did not have Down's syndrome and was 13 years of age, he would be in school and a place would be made for him in school. Who is accountable in that? Nobody wants to know. Who is accountable and who is responsible? What is the witnesses’ advice on that? I appreciate the comments on Safari in Mayo and the work is being done there. It is very important to get the positive feedback from that. That is the main reason I am here today.