Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I state unequivocally that the Government I lead is one that sees as its fundamental objective advocacy for children and providing services for children in education and health in the most comprehensive way possible.

All my political life, I have fought for children with special needs in whatever capacity I have served. I do not intend to change now. When I became Minister for Education and Science in 1998, I introduced groundbreaking change to education services for children with special needs, in particular children with autism. It is hard to credit that in 1998, children with autism were not even recognised as being a specific educational category deserving of specific educational supports. We changed that. I led that change by providing pupil-teacher ratios for the first time for all children with special needs and specifically for children with autism in respect of special classes, with one teacher and special needs assistant, SNA, for every six children, and providing supports for children with autism in mainstream and special classes.

I respect the Deputy's right to raise issues but she should not dare ever accuse me of trying to attack children with autism. That is not what I or my colleagues in government are about. The State has failed in the past and it can do better right now in terms of providing additional places for children with special needs. That is something on which I am particularly focused right now. The Deputy should cut out this kind of thing, saying she is somehow in some virtuous world and everybody else here on the Government side has no empathy or no desire or policy focus to do better for children with special needs, or children more generally. That is just not accurate or correct. There has been an explosion and expansion of services for children with special needs in education. That is incontrovertible. I would like to do more, however, particularly in terms of children having access to more therapies in a timely manner. That is something on which we are currently focused in both education and health.

I watched the "RTÉ Investigates" programme and I would not, in any set circumstances, support any Department seeking, for example, to breach patient-client confidentiality. That would be intolerable, unacceptable and unethical. The Department of Health does not accept that assertion, however, and is conducting a rigorous review of it. As I said, the Government will appoint a multidisciplinary team to assess that situation and give the full story around it. The Deputy has made assertions and damned the officials in the Department of Health without allowing them an opportunity to give their perspective on it. They are parents too and have children as well. They are not immune or somehow unfeeling, unethical people. It is easy to brand people in that manner in this House but is it fair to do so without full knowledge of the situation?

I repeat that there should never be any attempted breach of patient-client confidentiality. No Department official or anyone in government should ever seek to approach clinicians, for example, seeking files in respect of children on which there are legal cases. I am not clear yet as to whether that happened in any systemic way. The Deputy used a phrase about compiling dossiers. That has been denied. A report was compiled on this. Perhaps we need to pause and get the full story. It is unacceptable that it would happen. I assure the Deputy that the Government's commitment and its role and function are to advocate and provide for children.

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