John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is one of my great areas of interest in terms of advocacy, insofar as a politician can advocate on anything, and it has been since my party was in opposition. I want to focus on some of the things I believe have improved but I also believe we have stalled a little bit, that we need to do much more and that we are facing a crisis.

A case that has stuck in my memory is that of a parent who had more than one child with autism and who made a daily journey, starting at 6 a.m. or 6.30 a.m., to transport one child to Saplings Special School in Kill and another to Kiltiernan, County Dublin. The Minister of State will be familiar with Kiltiernan because it is in her constituency. Saplings is in Kill, County Kildare. Can you imagine making that journey twice a day, travelling down the Naas Road before reversing back over the mountains to Kiltiernan?

I do not want to allow this debate to go by without sincerely thanking the passionate advocates. I think of Miriam Kenny of Involve Autism, her husband, Brian, Alan and Colman and all of the others who assist them. I also think of all of the other autism groups and special needs advocates and those involved in groups like Twigs and SparkAbility that provide after-school care for children with special needs. Aside from leaving them exhausted, that advocacy and the time and energy these people have invested in this have done the State, these children and their parents an incalculable service.

I will now come back to us. There have been movements in the right direction. Progress was being made in my constituency, although I think things have stalled a little. I think of St. Dominic's National School in Tallaght, which I visited a number of months ago. The teachers and the SNAs worked in beautiful classes that had been set aside there. A really beautiful sensory room was also established. The school was yearning for a second ASD class. That was the first time I experienced that as a Deputy. I had never come across teachers who said they would welcome a second ASD class. I have encountered that opinion in other schools since. Why do they hold it? It is because it would enable collaboration and end isolation. That is something the system needs to welcome. I was very proud of the fact that we had got one ASD class, which caters for three or six students, but now I know, although it took a while to dawn on me, that one ASD class in a primary school is simply not sufficient. There needs to be multiple ASD classes. It has been highlighted that the provision for post-primary school is wholly and pitifully inadequate.

It is a crisis that is on our doorsteps as we speak. There is also the after-school element. We are doing a lot of work on the sports and after-school care side of it. I have been a great supporter of a particular idea for six years, so I will keep proposing it. Looking at all the building projects that are going on, we should be co-locating preschools on primary school sites. That would enable co-operation in respect of early intervention and the pooling of resources and the facilitation of after-school care for all children, not just those with special needs, but specifically with those children in mind. It would represent a one-stop shop for parents who are ferrying children to different schools.

I wish to raise the issue of political accountability. I wrote a letter to a principal of a school in Greenhills, which had as its final line: "The decision of the independent board is final". The principal wrote back the most eloquent letter and asked who is ultimately politically accountable, stating that we live in a Republic and there must be political accountability. The Minister of State and the Minister for Education are the ones who are politically accountable. The State cannot allow some schools to stand in the way of its policy to provide education for every child who requires it. Every tool at the disposal of the State has to be employed. If schools simply do not have the space, that is fine. However, the issue of space needs to be addressed and we must ask where we can find the space. The approach should also include the threat of removal of some funding if schools do not co-operate. The day has to come to an end where a principal can tell a parent with two children, one of whom has special needs, that the school may not be the best school for the child with special needs. We must ensure that the schools that are enthusiastic and anxious to provide school places for children with special needs are fully resourced in every way.

On the summer provision scheme, considering where the scheme was previously, I think the Minister for Education has done her best in providing additional resources, spreading the scheme over the summer months, bringing forward the payment of teachers and opening the scheme up to student teachers and others to provide it. However, it is not working. We really need to have a long, hard look at it. All of the Deputies have emails in their inboxes from people saying that four out of five of their local schools are not providing the summer provision scheme. As I have suggested previously, I think clusters of schools should work together in particular areas. For example, one school could provide the scheme for one of the summer months, or one school could provide the scheme in a particular year, with the agreement that the other school in the locality would provide it the next year. We have to be more and more creative. We cannot let obstacles stand in our way. As usual, I have much more to say on this issue, but I thank the Ceann Comhairle for bearing with me.

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