Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. At the heart of her reply, as well as the experience of any parents who sit before us at a clinic explaining their real urgency and frustration, is the issue of transparency. Many of those parents do not feel part of the process but feel they are subject to the process. Many do not believe there is transparency about how a school or ASD unit is established, or how a school avails of that process. We also really need to take into account the needs of the schools. Many of the schools I am talking about are in a DEIS area and have significant challenges, often with low enrolment numbers, with parents who may have an addiction issue, as well as members of minority communities. We have to do all we can to support those schools to opt in and to provide an ASD unit. I urge the Minister of State and her officials to do two things. The first is to help us exhaust the process of all reasonable efforts within the legislation and within her Department for the Dublin 11 area. If the Minister of State is saying at this point that she does not believe there is a need, then that is a separate argument that we can have.

If there is a need, we must exhaust all reasonable efforts and, hopefully, provide the places during that period. If we cannot provide them, I will come back to the Minister of State to urge her to direct the schools in the area to provide those ASD places.

See this speech in context