Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Some of what he said is welcome. I am aware of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, which we debated in the House. My fear is that we again have a situation where children who have an additional need or a disability are falling through the cracks or being left behind. They are being treated differently from children starting in mainstream schools with no additional needs. It is often at the last minute when the parents of children with an additional need finally find out they have secured a place in an ASD unit. There are long waiting lists and we know that they are increasing. A study in 2016 found that one in every 65 students has an ASD diagnosis and, therefore, we are very much playing catch-up in this area.

One of my main concerns is the attitude of schools when it comes to children with a diagnosis of autism. Many schools are good, as are many teachers. There are also, unfortunately, many schools that just do not want to know about ASD and will encourage parents to send their children elsewhere. There is no written proof but we all know that it happens. Kids are put on a reduced-hour day, perhaps two or three hours, with the hope that the parents will eventually just give up on that school and go somewhere else. We need to tackle that attitude as well as tackling the provision of places.

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