Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I acknowledge that the number of places was increased by almost one third. That was very welcome. The Minister has put her finger on the fact in that there is unwillingness in some schools to set up new classes. Schools where there was not unwillingness already have as many special classes as they can cope with. The reality is that if schools will not co-operate, it is really down to the Government to do something for the children who are not provided for sufficiently.

I do not expect the Minister to give me a promise today but I ask her to bear in mind that there really is under-provision. We cannot just leave it to chance and the willingness of schools to co-operate. The schools' role is to educate all children, and they should be obliged to provide classes for the children with autism. We must be more active in insisting on this. The special educational needs organisers do so much work but they have limited powers. I ask the Minister to change the approach to bring some element of compulsion into the process. Every child is entitled to an education, notwithstanding his or her disability.

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