John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be sharing time with Deputies Brassil, Browne, Aindrias Moynihan and Calleary. I thank my colleague, Deputy Thomas Byrne, for tabling the motion. I acknowledge the invaluable work of special needs assistants, autism spectrum disorder, ASD, units and special schools. All of us acknowledge this and see it in our communities. The problem is that on a regular basis, all Members of the House meet parents and children who cannot access the services. Children are unique individuals and every day we deal with cases. This is not anecdotal evidence or me saying it. It is in the replies we receive. The outcome has been home tuition for 800 or 900 children. I have no doubt that if the facility were available many others would be availing of it. We urgently need to invest in this sector. Too many of our children have no access to the facilities required.

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