Tom Sheahan (Kerry South, Fine Gael)

When I discuss autism, I would like to use some adjectives — disillusionment, distress and frustration. This is what the parents of autistic children go through every day of the week. Not only should the Minister for Education and Science be present, but also the Minister for Health and Children. If autism is not dealt with, it will fall on the latter's lap in years to come.

I will be parochial after my colleague, Deputy Deenihan. In County Kerry, children travel in excess of 50 miles from west of Dingle to Beaufort to attend a school. When I consider autism and my friends with autistic children, it brings to mind the television advertisement in which parents of a son or daughter involved in a car accident ask who will take care of their children after they are gone. This question hits the parents of autistic children every day of the week. They are fighting to get the basic rights their children deserve and to which they are entitled.

It is a highly emotive issue about which I feel strongly. I call on the Minister to put the facilities and supports in place for the parents who deal with this matter day in, day out. As my colleague, Deputy Deenihan, stated, they pay for it out of their own pockets because the State does not provide the help their children need and to which they are entitled as a basic human right.

See this speech in context