Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

Last night, the Minister referred to a complete transformation in the area. She referred to catching up over the past decade because we started from such a low base. The reason is not because of Government policy or initiative, but because parents have taken the Government to court. As a result of positive action and rulings by judges, we have seen measures forced upon the Government.

The Minister must ask a number of questions. I invite the Minister to answer my question in her conclusion to this debate. How does she intend to deal with post-primary education for autistic children? There is a difficulty in the primary sector but no provision is made for secondary schools. I wrote to the Minister about an individual in my constituency of Cork South-Central last September where, in effect, the young boy in question was sent from Billy to Jack. He was sent to three different schools in the city but the Minister would not intervene because she did not have a solution.

The Minister should examine and recognise staff who work in the system who are not mainstream school teachers but who have developed significant expertise in recent years where no professional recognition has been given by her Department. Otherwise, massive slippage will occur. These people need job security and proper, professional recognition for the job they do so well.

Dr. Fitzgerald is an extremely gifted man who has worldwide recognition for his diagnoses but he is not recognised by the Department of Education and Science. A child of two years for whom Dr. Fitzgerald made an extensive diagnosis was not seen until he was six years of age by the State when he was already two years in the mainstream primary education system. That is unacceptable. We should set out a targeted needs-based programmed approach for children.

Reference has been made to CABAS in Cork and my colleagues spoke about the ABA model. When will these approaches be mainstreamed?

My party colleague, Deputy Quinn, stated last night that the Minister is taking a one-size-fits-all approach to this issue. We know that is not working. If it was working we would not have people taking court cases and a packed Gallery. It is time we stopped taking the legal route to redress the problem. What we need is for this House to take responsibility for the area, not the courts.

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