Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for tabling the motion. It is important that we reflect on the life of a family with a child with autism, the news of a diagnosis, the challenge of it and getting used to it. They then have to deal with the system and the long waiting lists for assessment and interventions. It can take 36 months in some cases. I have been dealing with families who have been affected by this issue for approximately three years. Let us imagine if one had to deal with the challenge of this diagnosis, the new reality of waiting lists and trying to balance that situation in a family, only to come face-to-face with the education system when trying to enrol a child in the local school and having the school say "No". Imagine how that family or those parents would immediately come to the conclusion that their child was a second-class citizen, because the local school has said "No". The SENO will provide a list of schools to the parents and wish them the best of luck, then tell them they can get home tuition if it does not work.

Who among us is qualified to invite someone we do not know into our home to teach their child as a substitute for their child going to the local school? Can people imagine the humiliation of having to chase down school after school and having them all say "No"? Parents have come to me saying they have chased down 17 schools that have all said "No".

On the list that was given to a woman in Donaghmede by the special educational needs organiser, SENO, there was a school in Drogheda. Already we have hundreds of parents around the country who feel that they and their children are second-class citizens.

I want the Minister to cast her mind back to 18 months ago when we were in the Convention Centre Dublin and we had a discussion about the reopening of schools in January 2021. The Minister did her absolute best to present herself as a champion of children with special educational needs and their parents by pitting parents against school communities. I challenged her by saying she was suggesting to us we have to pick a side. The Minister for Education said she did pick a side, that of young people and children with special educational needs and their parents. That is exactly what the Minister said. Fast-forward 18 months, we are now in June 2022 and again we have no solutions to the reality of what these families are facing. When it suits the Ministers, they can be on the side of children and families who are facing issues of school placement. When it does not suit them, they have to go through Twitter threads because they know there is a "Prime Time Investigates" programme coming or they are embarrassed by a child from Tipperary who has to fundraise for her brothers. They came up with a proposal that is so obnoxious and odious to the rights-based approach of children with special educational needs that it should have been followed by a resignation letter from the Minister with responsibility for special education. There are temperate, mild-mannered lobby groups and NGOs working in this system and area all the time that are horrified by the warehousing that is effectively a direct provision approach to special educational needs. It is as if the Ministers are stunned we are in the month of June because they could not predict it. Allied to this is the fact those who work most intensively in this area, our special needs assistants, SNAs, have the ignominy of being told on the very last day of May whether they have jobs for September.

I am exhausted listening to parents who are telling me their life stories, and I do not have to deal with it day to day. I cannot imagine the exhaustion of somebody who is dealing with challenging parenting and who then has to deal with agencies of the State that effectively make them and their child feel worthless. I and other Deputies deal with campaigning groups from all over the country. They have to become campaigning groups. If they were to deal with the State on a one-to-one basis, they would not get anywhere. Unless they become a campaigning group or a full-time campaigner, they are wasting their time. Unless they expose the privacy of their family life to television cameras and go on "Prime Time Investigates", nothing is going to change. They must have the campaigning zeal of a child in Tipperary who sees that what is happening to her brothers is not fair or just and has to embarrass the Government into meeting her. That is the only thing that seems to make a difference. It does not come from an inherent sense of equality or justice within Government. It does not come from an inherent sense of equality or justice on the part of the Ministers. What it comes from is a fire-fighting response to an emergency need.

I cannot imagine the rage I would feel if I approached the local school in my community with my child whom I have struggled to convince that he or she is an equal citizen in this Republic, and for the local school to say "No". The Ministers cannot at this late stage tell us they have grand plans for section 37A. It has been utilised twice. One of those cases is still stuck in the courts. As has been said, it takes a long time to expedite. The Ministers could have been reforming section 37A for the past 18 months since they made their grand gesture in the convention centre about how strongly they feel about special needs education, special needs students and their families. They did not. When they had a chance to use it as a wedge against teachers and SNAs on the reopening of schools, it was convenient for them. What actually needed to take place to provide school places for those who need them just did not happen. As has been said by the proposers of the motion, the Minister needs to take action on section 37A and we will support that. We supported emergency legislation earlier today. We will support any amount of time the Minister wants to put forward on section 37A to demand of a school to open up for a child who needs a place and then to resource that school. I am quite sure there are school principals and communities who are not sure they would get the support of the State if they did go down that road.

Immediately tonight, the Ministers must end this warehousing proposal. They must make a statement that it was a bad idea, ill-conceived and poorly thought out. It has caused a lot of hurt and upset and it is not going anywhere. The Ministers should make that statement tonight. They must absolutely commit to the ethic of a local school place for a child in that community. They must commit to doing anything they possibly can to ensure that right. They should commit that we will not be back here in six or 12 months' time having the very same debate because it does not suit the Ministers, who are utilising this issue as a wedge to drive between parents, school communities and children with special educational needs.

See this speech in context