Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. This is an issue of huge concern. I have been informed of many cases. Parents are not happy with this. They are worried about their children, many of whom have special needs and are already facing too many barriers in areas like speech therapy and occupational therapy. I am one of a number of Deputies who have raised this issue on the floor of this House. The new resource allocation model has the potential to create another insurmountable barrier for these parents.

I would like to give an example of what is happening. I have been made aware that a child with special educational needs was refused admission to a school because of a lack of resources. This is concrete evidence of what children and parents are facing in this day and age. I sent the details of another case, in respect of which my office has been contacted by the parent of two children with special needs, to the Minister last week and I hope some action will be taken on foot of that. One of the children in this case has autism and is transferring from an autism unit to a small rural mainstream school, which is good. If we truly believe in inclusion, such children should not be encountering barriers. Resources should be made available in such cases. None of the children to whom I refer, including the child who is transferring to a mainstream school, has been captured under the new resource model. Parents have very real concerns that schools will not be in a position to support their children. I ask the Minister to consider that such cases will arise under the new approach.

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