Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

Many parents are concerned that they are not getting speedy assessments. When the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act was passed by this House it was supposed to provide supports for those families, but we increasingly find that the families need to make up the shortfall. We have no timescale for when the Act will be fully implemented. I listened to what the Minister said about difficulties with funding and so on, but these families and their children are suffering. Does the Minister not accept that families will need to go back to the courts again to try to get the resources and supports needed for their children's educational needs? It was very positive to move children from special schools into mainstream ones, but without those supports there is no alternative for families. Increasingly, families must make up the shortfall themselves. It is a case of them borrowing from the credit union or other families and communities having to organise fund-raising functions because the State is not supplying the basic resources to which children are entitled under the Act.

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