Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is a technical Bill and I acknowledge the commitment and hard work the Minister of State puts into her brief. I know she shows huge empathy with the people she works with. That said, I cannot see this Bill making a huge difference, or any difference, to neurodiverse children who are being bused out of their communities with strangers. More than €70,000 per day is being spent in south Dublin alone to transport autistic children out of their communities in this way. That is just south Dublin and it would be interesting to know what the entire national figure is. A freedom of information request went in and it was established that €72,000 per day was spent transporting children to classes outside of their communities each day. How can this be justified? How will this Bill change that waste? Why can neurodiverse children not have the expectation that they will be able to walk to school with their brothers and sisters?

This Bill will not make any difference to the parents in south Dublin who cannot get a place in the same school as their other siblings. Despite a 37-day process, schools in Dublin 6 and Dublin 6W have not opened any new classes. A relatively new school in Sandymount, the Shellybanks Educate Together National School, has not opened a new class even though it has the space within that footprint. Earlier this week I was talking to one parent who was in tears in the middle of the street telling me about the fear and desperation their family had when they were told there was no place for their child in a class in September. This worry and fear is all-consuming for the family and it is crippling them. It is not a debate for today but no school should be allowed to open without having an autism class and that goes for primary and secondary schools. This Bill will not make any difference to the parents who are waiting years to have their children assessed.

If the Bill could make a difference to service provision then parents of neurodiverse children would be delighted but it is hard to see how shuffling arounde the chairs will make a difference to children with autism and their parents. It is a real challenge for them and spending so much transporting children out of their communities is no way to treat them and their families.

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