Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)

I commend my colleagues in the Technical Group on tabling this motion on the cuts affecting special needs assistants. Parents of children with special needs must struggle all their children's lives to ensure services are made available to them. They must struggle to get bureaucrats, the HSE and Government to listen and take on board their struggle for services. I refer to the struggle for physiotherapy and occupational therapy, for example. Parents of children with special needs must struggle throughout their children's lives because they want the best for them. They want their children to be able to achieve as much as they can in society.

It seemed that, through the special needs assistance system, some respite was available such that parents could obtain the assistance needed by their children in mainstream schools. In a proper society, we would plan ahead and know the number of children requiring special needs education. Every year, 8,000 to 10,000 children enter the primary school system. Of these, 400 to 500 have special needs and require assistance. We know this, yet the Government cannot plan for it. A proper society would ensure supports are available for children with special needs when they enter school. That is the crux of this problem.

It has been mentioned by the Deputies on the Government side that the system is broken and needs to be fixed. I do not see any attempt to fix the system; all I see is a cap and an attempt to save money with a view to responding to the IMF, ECB and EU. The Government is tipping its hat at these stating it is well behaved, Ireland is not Greece, it is doing everything it has been told to do and it is making things work. It is time this stopped.

The Government, in its amendment, notes the cap on special needs assistants was introduced by the previous Government. Since I was elected to this House in February, I have been sick to death hearing every problem laid at the door of the previous Government. The current Government is responsible and was voted into power by the people in February with a view to bringing about change. The Government promised to be something different but has not been. It continues to behave as its predecessor did. It has morphed into Fianna Fáil. The Labour Party and Fine Gael are now Fianna Fáil. The transition has been shocking. The Government lays blame continuously but should take responsibility. The time is coming quickly in which it will be held to account and responsible for what it has done.

In 1846, Thomas Davis wrote, "Educate that you may be free". That is vital. Mr. Davis encouraged the Irish to educate themselves to bring about freedom. What we and parents of children with special needs advocate is the education of their children. Children with special needs face many barriers in life but if they can obtain a proper education, it can ease their burden. That is all their parents are asking for. It is the least that children with special needs deserve.

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