David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her comprehensive response and look forward to receiving the information she mentioned. In the north Lee area in my constituency there is a very long waiting list to get a diagnosis because without that, early intervention cannot happen.

If the condition is acute, I think special schools are the way to go. The difficulty is that sometimes these schools are a long way from the homes of the children and travelling to and from these schools can be very problematic and can add to the stress and pressure. Could the Minister carry out a national examination of the location of special schools and see where there are areas where there is demand but no school in order that children will not have to travel, leading to more expense in the form of taxis and buses?

Could the Minister come back to me on autism-specific teams? I know this is possibly crossing over into health. This is a problem because this area is a cross between health and education. It also involves other areas such as enterprise and employment and environment as people get older. This is why we need a strategy to pull it all together rather than it being a case of who does what. Certain provisions of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs, EPSEN, Act were geared towards children with special needs, but much of that Act has been parked and has not been developed or brought into force. Will the Minister tell us her plans regarding bringing that into force?

I note that under the Disability Act, when a child was diagnosed, the diagnosis was to include information about what the child would need. I understand that the Department of Education and Skills is saying the assessor cannot and should not specify exactly what the child needs. This is completely against the spirit of the Act and I ask the Minister to change that.

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