Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and her officials for attending the meeting. I am glad they have been meeting the different groups, organisations, parents and the people themselves. That is the most important thing. The biggest issue we face - and my own area it is constant - is the waiting times for assessments. The list varies throughout the country and in CHO 9 the assessment lists are quite long.

When people come of age and move on, coming out of the special schools and what plans are in place for them seems to be an area that is not covered very well, and also when going to higher education.

The other area that seems to be a big issue that needs to be looked at a lot more is transport for people to get to and from the schools. I have had various complaints from people who are not able to get transport and have to go a very long and messy way to get sorted out.

I know there are extra special needs classrooms in certain areas. We have a request in for our own area. There are a few requests from some of the schools in the Finglas and Ballymun areas. The building process getting it sorted out seems to be a very slow process.

Will the Minister of State discuss the progress made on the relevant recommendations of the final report of the Joint Committee on Autism? The autism innovation strategy is currently under development and work is ongoing. How is the Department of Education feeding into this process? That was a very good report on autism and I would like to hear more about this.

The Minister of State mentioned it is 20 years since the EPSEN Act. Significant parts of that legislation have not been enforced. An example was the educational assessment for all children with special education needs and also an independent appeals process. How are we progressing with that? The Minister of State mentioned a review is being carried out by the Department of Education. When will that be completed? Will all areas of the Department be disability-proofed when the budget is taken into account? I know that is something the committee fed into.

The Ombudsman for Children's Office, OCO, investigates complaints about services provided to children by public organisations. In 2023, 40% of all complaints related to education. Several complaints were made to the OCO about TY access. The OCO wrote to the Department of Education to raise concerns over the lack of a national admissions policy, or framework, for TY for students. It appears there is no national, transparent policy available to parents, guardians and students to guide the allocation of transition year places and that the decision lies solely with school management. Are there plans to address the lack of a national admissions policy or framework for TY for students? As we said, the person or child should be at the centre stage of any decision.