Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

This week I attended a major Special Olympics sporting event in County Wicklow and noted the slogan was "Changing Lives". There is no doubt but that the Special Olympics has changed lives for many children with special needs in particular. While it has changed lives for the better, it seems as though the Government is set on changing the lives of many children with special needs for the worse. I welcome this debate because it is clear that children with special needs require the investment of time, money and expertise.

I wish to raise a particular case relating to children with special needs in my constituency. There is a school for autistic children called Barnacoyle school. It is a model of a school that has depended on its parents for financial and all other forms of support for the good of their children. The children benefit from applied behaviour analysis, ABA, schooling and undoubtedly have benefitted enormously. Such a benefit has been recognised by the Department in other areas in respect of schools that already have been set up. Moreover, additional schools now have been added to the list. However, I am greatly concerned that the school at Barnacoyle has been deliberately excluded from the negotiations between Irish Autism Action, IAA, and the Department. For five years, the school has been largely, albeit not solely, dependent on parents and the goodwill and support of the community. Approximately 24 children benefit at present but I wish to mention one child in particular. I refer to a little boy called Seán Ó Cuanacháin, whose parents Yvonne and Cian went to court because they saw no other way to ensure their child received the education and support he needed. It was a terrible experience for the family. The Department carried out an aggressive campaign and the cost to the taxpayer was prohibitive. Seán Ó Cuanacháin is still in the same position he was. We must examine what happened in this case. The Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, is not a vindictive man but the school has been treated unfairly by his Department.

Reading about the case of Ms O'Keeffe, who took a case against the State and lost but was treated sympathetically by the State, it is extraordinary to note the treatment of the Ó Cuanacháin family compared to her treatment. I urge the Minister to do the right thing and stop this exclusion of a school that is up and running, caring for and educating children with particular needs. If the school were not there, there would be no school in County Wicklow for children with autism. That is unsustainable. Barnacoyle needs to be treated fairly. I am concerned that the Ó Cuanacháin family feels it has no option but to take a case to the Supreme Court, with the trauma and expense that involves, because this matter between the school and the Department has not been resolved. I regret that the Minister is not in the Chamber but I ask the Minister of State at the Department to raise this issue to unlock the logjam and deal fairly with the children in County Wicklow, who deserve treatment equal to that of any other child in the country. They are not getting equal treatment and, as their representative, I must bring the case to the point where a difference can be made, where their lives can be changed by the Minister and the Department treating the school fairly, in line with the fact that the Department has funded 12 schools, plus two additional schools since the court case. It is not the case that the pilot schools are in the loop, additional schools have been provided and funded yet the school in Wicklow is excluded from negotiations. That is not fair, right or sympathetic to the children directly affected. I urge that this case be dealt with fairly so that we can bring to a close an unpleasant and difficult chapter in the life of children in County Wicklow.

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