John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To follow on from Deputy Ferris's contribution, I will not be repetitive because there is a very straightforward ask. To commence the process in September for completion the following June does not give enough time and it needs to commence 12 months earlier. If that happened, one would get the assessments done, get the funding in place and get the staff in place, which would give some hope of a smooth transition for special needs children coming out of the school environment and going into the adult environment.

Another important issue is the question of the transition itself. It often happens that a child will finish in the Nano Nagle school or any other special needs school and will not know the person who is going to be caring for them in the day services they are going into and will not know where the day services are. There will be no preparation by the school and no opportunity for the school to meet the new carers. The whole thing is operating on a trial and error basis, which is not acceptable for the most vulnerable in our society.

I ask the Minister of State, first, to bring the assessment process back 12 months and, second, to allow for a minimum of a six-month transition for the special needs child, the parents and the carers to get familiar with the new set-up and to make the transition as smooth as possible for what we all know are the most vulnerable people in society, to whom we, as elected Members, have a duty of care.

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