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

As parents across the country fear the rising costs of the back to school dates that are looming ahead, there are some parents who fear September even more. That is because over 200 children still do not have a school place on the last day in June for the coming September term. It was a privilege yesterday to be joined by parents, advocates, SNAs, teachers and young people for the debate on the Labour Party's Autism Bill 2022, which seeks to address the serious shortfall in provision for autistic people, both adults and children, who are simply without services. We heard words such as "hellish" and "a nightmare" used by parents when describing their experiences in securing services for their children. We have asked the Government to take urgent action on this.

We were glad the Bill was not opposed yesterday on Second Stage. What we want is what children and adults in other jurisdictions have as a matter of right, which is a national autism strategy to address provision in education, healthcare, employment and training. We see it in Northern Ireland under the Autism Act 2011, in England under the Autism Act 2009 and in Malta which has a national autism empowerment strategy. My colleague, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, has been calling for this for some time. Indeed, over a year ago, Labour Party Deputies put forward a motion to introduce a national autism empowerment strategy. We were promised action on that within a year by the Government and we accepted that response. We waited for longer than a year but, regrettably, over a year on we are still hearing the same experiences and frustrations. We saw this frustration expressed in the report of the Ombudsman for Children, a damning report of Government failures in regard to children.

We do not believe that anybody in the Government thinks that a 36-month waiting list for an assessment or intervention is acceptable or that it is acceptable that over 15,000 children are being bussed out of their local communities to access an appropriate or acceptable education. We do not think it is acceptable that so many schools are lacking the wraparound additional supports that are needed to ensure a proper and adequate education for children with autism. In recent weeks we see news headlines still being dominated by a lack of provision and lack of school places. Worst of all, we see children who are still without a guarantee of a place in the autumn. I know the Government's legislation is to be debated tomorrow, but it is too little, too late for those children and their families. What we heard from the groups, advocates and parents who were with us yesterday in the Visitors Gallery was an urgent desire for the Government to take steps today to ensure that we are not back in the same place next year.

What timeline does the Government have to ensure we are not back in this position next year? What timeline does it have for addressing the serious shortfalls in provision for children and adults who are lacking the basic human rights they should have just because they are autistic? Why are we still failing those children and adults?

See this speech in context