Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is deplorable to see how some children with special needs are treated as they look for occupational therapy services and speech and language therapy. I saw one young child in County Galway put on a panel of 99 children. It was said clearly that 15 children will be taken care of in a year, but we know that if a child is not seen between the ages of two years old and eight years old, there is less of a possibility of helping that child. I encourage every parent to ensure they have an assessment of needs form for their child because when parents go looking for assistance, it is often not even filled out.

We need a root-and-branch review of this. To be fair to teachers, we need to be sure that a large proportion of time in the teacher training colleges is put towards making sure this is addressed. There are some new ideas and the Department should be open to letting parents try out new ideas because I have seen some of those ideas in practice and they have worked out well.

This is not the Minister's fault and I am not blaming him because he has not been in his position for long, but I have said this to teachers before and I will say openly now that I believe that the lack of speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, and all of that means in years to come we will see a "Prime Time" programme on the way those children were, in my opinion, neglected. I have seen parents having to go to the Four Courts to try to get the best for their child and to get some of those services. It is a sad day when that happens. Parents want to help their children and every one of us wants to see our children doing well, especially children with autism, and what is happening currently is not the society we should allow to manifest. We should be there to help those people. I know and understand there are problems with getting speech and language therapists, but we have to address this problem because of the difference between letting a child live a normal and fulfilled life and not giving him or her the start he or she requires.

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