Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Minister to give information to the providers of July provision. Yesterday I spoke to a representative of a school that takes in 90 children for July provision. At this stage the school should be organising transport for the children, SNAs, teachers, physiotherapists and nurses. School authorities should not be worrying about the conditions of the scheme and whether it will go ahead but this information is not available to them. The July provision is 20 days of fun and music for children with complex needs who have been isolated at home since early March. When autistic children are about to leave school, they are reassured for weeks beforehand but on 13 March these children left school and did not come back. They were left at home with their parents, many of whom were trying to work from home as well as mind other siblings and they were also expected to take care of their child with additional needs. Many of these children are non-verbal. They are unable to express how they feel or understand what is happening.

Who is responsible for the summer provision? Is it the Department of Children and Youth Affairs or the Department of Education and Skills? The July provision programme is not open to preschool children.

A simple solution this year might be an extension of the access and inclusion model, AIM, programme because the SNAs involved, who already know the preschool children, could maintain a sense of community for them as they transition to the next level of preschool. Preschool does not have access to the July provision programme. The scheme would be relatively inexpensive to run, with typical wages of between €13 and €16 per hour. Perhaps the Minister would consider using social care students, student occupational therapists, student physiotherapists and student SNAs to accommodate preschool children this year.

Simple questions are being asked by providers. They are seeking three SNAs per class. Since there is no swimming or horse riding this year, can children have home economics and music therapy?

Some of the behaviours being witnessed are shocking. Some children have not gotten out of bed since March. They will require more effort on buses. Home-based provision should still be an option in extreme cases. HSE respite care needs to be reopened as soon as possible. For the parents and guardians who took Covid seriously, it is time to reopen and give them the break they need.

People require answers now. There has been ample time to prepare a plan and inform providers of what is happening. What about a simple extension of the AIM programme? Where the transition is concerned, the people who have been with those children all the way up the line know the children. It is not only the children who need a break, but also the parents. There are enough people available to provide this service if we just take a simple approach to it.

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