Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

If I heard the Taoiseach correctly, he said that Cabinet committee B, which is concerned with social policy and public services in Ireland, met most recently towards the end of February and will meet again before the end of June. That is a gap of four months. Public services require constant attention on the part of any competent Government because moving from the period of economic collapse to recovery includes very delicate negotiations and considerations as to how to recompense people who have lost out.

I am concerned about school completion programmes and services for children with autism. There is no collective Government policy about these issues at all. It is spread over a whole lot of different Departments and the relevant Government committees do not seem to meet or, if they do, they meet infrequently. We can see the gaps in policy and it is difficult to discuss them in the House.

A movement started in Dublin 15 about autism spectrum disorder services with large public meetings of hundreds of parents of children on the autism spectrum over the past nine months. Some 60 children in the area were identified as being without services. We have moved to quite a good resolution where there will be a special autism school on a small scale for children who have both high-level needs in respect of autism and other problems such as behavioural issues.

On the school completion programme, particularly those in the delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, programme, it is vital to keep children in school and for them to enjoy it, to prosper and be nurtured. A situation pertains whereby the Department for Children and Youth Affairs, under the relevant Minister, is threatening that these broad general programmes will be cut back. There are seven programmes, for instance, in schools in Dublin 15 and the Taoiseach privately visited Ladyswell national school, one of those affected, a couple of months ago. Nobody from any other political party or public representative accompanied him so that he could have a private conversation. I am using Dublin 15 as an example. The Taoiseach is influential on other parts of the Civil Service but there were threats of serious cutbacks in the school completion programme in Dublin 15. In order to save money, the whole-school approach will be changed to an individual, identified, targeted child who is deemed to be particularly at need. That is a disorganised and disconnected way for the Government to formulate programmes affecting the most vulnerable children in our society.

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