Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Taoiseach's comments that the Cabinet sub-committee on education has met to discuss special education in particular. I have spoken repeatedly with the Taoiseach and with the Minister, Deputy Foley, about this issue over the past months. Following on from what the previous speakers have said, I have a genuine concern about provision for ASD students nationwide. I acknowledge that a lot of resources have been pumped in over the past 12 months but it also needs to be acknowledged that more children than ever before are getting diagnoses and assessments of need. I am concerned that there are areas of this country and of our own county where the education provision for students with ASD is left to the devices of principals in schools. The policy needs to change. The Department of Education and the Government need to take this issue by the scruff of the neck so that where there is demand for provision of such educational services, they will be provided in any school that is publicly funded. I do not believe this to be a major ask. The Government needs to look at this. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of ASD classes provided, even in the short time that we have been in government. That said, the existing demand needs to be addressed. The best way to do that is to do it from a Department point of view, where the Department makes the decisions on where the services are in demand. I welcome the Taoiseach's comments on that.

See this speech in context