Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yes. Will the Taoiseach confirm that it is not his intention to abolish the Department of Children and Youth Affairs? That possibility has been raised, albeit in a joking manner.

I have just under five minutes and have only one question, which I will preface with a number of comments. The question relates to children with autism and special needs of all sorts. I understand the Taoiseach is in receipt of a letter from a man who describes himself as a professional but is not writing in that capacity but in a personal capacity in regard to his child, aged 13, with autism. He is speaking not for himself and he recognises that, in a sense, he is in a privileged position in that he and his family are relatively well off. He is highlighting the fact that no provision at all has been made for children with disabilities. He says in his letter, which I am sure the Taoiseach has read:

We have been holding onto the hope that there must surely be some recognition of the need for some relief for this group in the first stage of lifting social restrictions. They are amongst the most vulnerable people in our society. It is a grim indictment of us as a nation that their education and welfare appears to be have been cast aside for six months without a documented rationale or justification for an intended good.

I draw attention to the writer's reference to "without a documented rationale or justification". There have been many such letters. Another correspondent said of their child with severe learning disability and epilepsy, who is non-verbal and doubly incontinent, that the child "needs and breathes routine, structure and certainty". What impact analysis has been done on the decision to ignore this part of our society? What voice is on the expert committee to speak for these people?

In regard to testing, I absolutely agree with Deputy Shortall's comments. We talk about misinformation, but the best way to deal with misinformation is with accountability, openness and facts. We had four testing centres in Galway but now there are only three. We were told by the World Health Organization to test, test, test. That has not happened, not for clinical reasons but because we simply did not rise to it in terms of structure and money.

This situation did not come upon us from nowhere. We prepared in 2007 for a flu pandemic. I understand there was an exchange last December between Deputy Micheál Martin and the Taoiseach regarding an emergency co-ordination centre and an emergency plan. The Taoiseach said at the time that such a plan was imminent. What happened to that plan? This last is an accessory question and I am leaving myself two minutes to speak further on the matter of children with disabilities.

See this speech in context