Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I also raise the issue of better services for children with educational needs, in particular for children with autism. I was glad to join the Families United for Services and Support protest outside the Dáil last Friday. I heard some powerful testimonies from parents and from young adults who had been failed by a system that simply could not provide them with the supports they needed to ensure their right to an education was vindicated. This is a serious matter. We are seeing an inconsistent level of services being provided for children with autism across the State.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of visiting the wonderful Rainbow Club in Mahon in Cork. The Taoiseach is familiar with Karen and Jon O'Mahony and their great work in providing supports to parents and, crucially, to children from a young age right through to teenage years and beyond. These wonderful services are being provided for about 1,000 children each year now. They are picking up the pieces and filling the gaps that exist in the State system, where we are seeing a lack of joined-up thinking and co-ordinated services, particularly for children with autism and autism spectrum disorder, ASD.

See this speech in context