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

On Tuesday, the Labour Party called for an urgent debate this week on special education, given the mounting issues in the area. We are very disappointed that the Government did not support the proposal put forward by my colleague Deputy Ó Ríordáin to amend the Order of Business to have the debate this week. We are glad it is being scheduled for two weeks' time but the reality is that every week counts for children with autism and their parents. We are very deeply concerned that the right to an education is not being vindicated for many children, including the almost 270 with autism who are without an appropriate school place for this coming September. We are concerned that the Government is simply not according this the urgent priority it requires. The Government is not a bystander in this, yet we heard a proposal to introduce so-called special educational needs centres, which apparently has now been jettisoned. We are hearing about delays in assessments for children and in allocation of special needs assistants, so we believe the Government priorities are not sufficiently urgently targeted. What emergency measures will be introduced to give relief to parents and, most important, children?

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