Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad there are meetings coming up but the fact that it has taken protest by parents and consistent lobbying in this House to achieve them is regrettable. As Deputy O'Callaghan said, the parents involved are at breaking point. Receiving refusal letters time and again and being sent from Billy to Jack is not good enough. If they have another meeting and if there is no change in the strategy or a definite place for their children, it will just compound their stress.

The Education (Admissions to Schools) Act includes powers to compel the schools to make additional provision for the education of children with special needs. When will the Government exercise that right and intervene to secure an appropriate education for those children who deserve it? A strategy is needed to help parents in individual cases but there have been so many broken promises. We have a long-standing commitment on a project in St. Michael's House in Skerries, for example. We have been told that it is a priority but another school year is almost over and it is no nearer to opening. If it is just a meeting with no outcome, that will only retraumatise people. We need action and a concrete improvement in the situation as a result of those meetings.

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