Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise the need for the Minister for Health and Children to take urgent action to address the crisis in the provision of services for children with special needs, as highlighted by the Health Service Executive, north-eastern area, in recent days. I also address my remarks to the Minister for Education and Science, who shares responsibility in this area, and the Minister for Finance.

I raised this issue with the Taoiseach during Leaders' Questions this morning and now on the Adjournment because tonight, as we speak, there are parents throughout this land living in fear of what will happen to their children. That is no exaggeration. A very experienced person in the special needs sector in the north-east region told me today that parents who contacted her are "absolutely terrified". These are parents of children with autism and other special needs. To quote again this experienced worker in the field, they are "terribly frightened" by what has happened to the O'Hara family in County Meath.

The Minister is constrained under sub judice rules in what he can say on the case. I am not looking for a detailed reply. However, I emphasise that the crisis for this family has been brought about by the failure of the State to provide the range of services they so desperately need. That failure is replicated in the cases of thousands of others. This family spoke out publicly.

They stood up for their rights and described their struggle to cope with the needs of four autistic children in a family of five.

Last Friday the three eldest boys were taken away by the Health Service Executive in the company of gardaí and their parents were not told where they were being taken. They are in bed and breakfast accommodation. The two younger children are in respite care. We need to consider the message this sends out. As I said to the Taoiseach, thousands of families in the State are in fear that if they speak openly about their struggle to cope they could face a similar fate and their children may be taken from them. The report of the task force on autism, published in October 2001, declared that the State was "critically unable to meet the needs of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders in Ireland". The case of this family is representative of many others and it shows that nothing has changed substantially since that report was published.

Three of these children must travel far from their home to access education. The education provision for the others is limited. However, all are denied what they need in terms of speech therapy and occupational therapy. The HSE offers no help in the home for the parents who must cope with the demands of a large young family, a huge task in ordinary circumstances but doubly challenging when children have special needs. I am taking this case as typical of many others. What unites these parents is a determination to do the best for their children, to achieve their rights and to allow the children to fulfil their undoubted potential.

Does the Minister of State agree that the Government is duty bound to rectify the disgraceful neglect of decades and to provide all these children and their families with the resources they need? Will he pledge here to the parents of children with autism that the State's response will be to provide those services — educational, therapeutic, respite and support — and not to heap blame and humiliation on parents who are doing their best to cope against terrible odds?

One of the most important things the Government can do is not to allow the Disability Bill to pass as it is now constructed. It must commit to recasting it and ensuring that it is rights-based legislation which will give people with special needs and people with disabilities the guarantees they demand so that services can be provided and cannot be withdrawn in future. The task force on autism went even further and called on the Government to pay urgent attention to the need for constitutional reform to ensure clearer provision for people with disabilities, including those with autism. We demand more urgent action on the part of the Government to implement this report fully.

The lack of priority given to children with autism is shown clearly by the long delay in getting the all-Ireland centre for autism in Middletown, County Armagh, operational. The centre should have been opened and functioning long ago. I do not accept the timeframe the Taoiseach gave in the Dáil this morning. We have waited long enough. Autumn 2006 is far too late. Both the Irish and British Governments must now provide all the necessary additional financial, personnel and other resources required to accelerate delivery of this essential resource. We want to see it open this summer. This is an issue of equity of treatment for all children. We demand nothing less.

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