Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the summer provision announcement from the Minister, but I along with many parents across north Kildare despair that the scheme might be another case of the Department speaking first and thinking later.

My head is bursting and my heart is breaking from listening to all the thoughts and worries of exhausted parents of children with special needs and what they have relayed to me over the past few weeks. I hear in their voices the realisation that the love they have for their children with special needs is not enough to provide the services they need. Some parents are anxious about children who are vulnerable from a medical point of view. A mother texted me after a long chat the other evening. She told me her son is high risk and has a high inflammatory disease, as well as Down's syndrome and a profound intellectual disability. He is tube fed around the clock and requires 24-hour care. She hopes the Department will be able to provide him with one-to-one July provision at home as she is terrified of him catching the virus.

I have spoken to the parents of children with Down's syndrome who welcome that they have been included in the scheme this year. It is very important that they be included in future years. I have spoken to other parents whose children attend special schools but do not qualify for July provision. I accept that is something for another Minister to decide, but I hope the Minister appreciates that I want to give voice to their concerns today.

We are coming out of lockdown, but for many of the parents I have spoken to, lockdown is how they feel they have been living their lives. They feel like they are in lockdown because they have been locked out by an outdated system with a stony face that seeks to confer a privilege on their children rather than the rights to which their beloved children should be entitled, such as health, care and education. They are not looking for the sun, moon and stars. They are looking for their rights and for the State to show kindness to their children whom they love. The Minister's press release had a headline and announcement, but I ask that he please put kindness in the story of the summer provision.

As the Minister knows, community-based activity is very important for most of these children. Has he investigated the negative effects of social distancing and the possible additional stress it might cause children? Do we have the capacity to provide one-to-one July provision at home for medically vulnerable children who need structure and stimulation? Parents like the mother to whom I referred need to know we are there to help her and her son.

What is the position regarding school transport? It is not the responsibility of a school per se, but managing transport is one of the trickiest aspects of managing Covid-19. I would like to know whether any plans are in place to address the issue in the context of children. How does July provision cater for deep cleaning and the additional cleaning that will be required, given that some children have problems with spitting or dribbling and will have intimate hygiene needs in this new Covid-19 world?

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