Mr. Adam Harris:

I thank the Deputy and recognise the Sinn Féin motion last night. We appreciate the engagement we had with the Deputy in that regard.

In terms of inclusive education, I recognise at the outset that we see fantastic examples of inclusion on the ground but our concern is that it is still something we remark upon when it happens for an autistic child, whereas we would never expect any less for a neurotypical child. It is clear from this year's Same Chance Report that an inclusive university education system is very far off for autistic young people. Families are having to fight to get into the classroom and that is the first of a series of fights. To put it simply, I do not believe we will ever achieve an inclusive education system until we move to a rights-based model. That is twofold: it is rights-based in terms of access to resources and services but it is also rights-based in terms of training and regulation in the classroom. That dual challenge erects barriers for our community across the country.

In addressing inclusive education, it is important to say we see children in mainstream schools who are not included in school and we equally see children enrolled in special schools who are not included in school. When I answer this question, I am not talking about the context of their enrolment as much as what happens in our classrooms. Inclusion is not just permission to enter a building; it is everything that happens from there. What are the steps we need to take to break down these barriers? Our general election manifesto has a number of key asks. We fully agree with the Deputy that we need to move to a model where therapeutic supports are provided within schools. It is important we do not create a reality where those supports are only available in special schools because that would force more parents to choose that option, as opposed to engaging in mainstream education.

We have had the EPSEN review and are still awaiting the final report, but we need to make sure that in the very early stages of the next Oireachtas, an EPSEN Act will be not just reviewed and passed but fully implemented, and that has to include firm rights to be included in school but also to access the supports that the child needs. Moreover, critically, we need to see regulation and training. Parents can enrol their child in a special school, but the reality is the child might be taught by a teacher who does not have any training in the field of autism. More than one fifth of the students represented in our Same Chance report had been suspended from school in the previous year, while the trends relating to physical restraint are very worrying. For example, 12% of the children had been physically restrained. We really need to see much more robust regulation and that has to be followed through with mandatory training.

In respect of the AAC programme, the pilot programme we are operating will be able to provide devices to 550 autistic children in the year ahead. There are a number of streams to that programme, namely, a “borrow and keep” scheme as well and one pathway for children who have speech and language therapy support and another for those who do not. It might useful if the Deputy's office were happy to get in touch with AsIAm and perhaps we could engage with that parent directly.