Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On Saturday, I stood outside the GPO with members of FUSS. I stood in solidarity as they spoke about children's disability services. The Minister of State mentioned emotion. I could not help but be emotional while listening to the parents and children who shared their lived experiences. They have to fight every single day just to get the basic care, access to treatment and school places their children need.

One of the groups at the protest on Saturday was the Clondalkin Autism Parents Support Network, which is based in my area. I met members of the group a couple of weeks ago and I will meet them again tomorrow with my colleague, Deputy Ó Laoghaire. The word I can use to best describe those parents is "exhausted". They are absolutely exhausted from just trying to get the basic care their children need. The group has been invited to the audiovisual room of Leinster House in the next couple of weeks. I will invite both the Minister and the Minister of State to personally meet its members at that briefing, so that they can hear first-hand what those parents have to go through.

The Clondalkin Autism Parents Support Network asked me to raise the lack of autism spectrum disorder secondary school places in my area in Dublin Mid-West. Information the group received from the National Council for Special Education indicates that there are 17 primary schools with 29 ASD classes. That is 174 children in primary school ASD classes. We currently have five secondary schools with 1.5 ASD classes, which will accommodate 45 children. Simple mathematics tells me that putting 174 children into 45 places does not go. There is a promise and commitment in the programme for Government to ensure that every child with a special educational need has an appropriate school place. The Government is failing these children.

The recent proposal that children with special educational needs be segregated and isolated from the school community in special education centres is a retrograde and completely unacceptable step. Desperate parents may feel pressured to accept these places simply because they have no other option. This goes against the provision in the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 that every child must have an appropriate school place. Children with special educational needs must be part of our schools but not apart from our schools. The latter will happen if this provision is introduced.

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