Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to come in on this question. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Autism. Fiacre Ryan and his mother, Carmel, presented as witnesses at the committee and talked about and explained this method. I have been contacted by a number of parents and teachers about this method. The Minister of State said that schools are not prohibited from using the method. However, one school was using it and when the inspector visited the school they told it to stop, so schools are being prohibited from using this method. RPM has been used in America for 20 years. It has a proven track record there and it has been used in other jurisdictions as well. It is something that works for children. It was working well in the school in which it was being used, as I have mentioned, but then it was suddenly stopped. It has devastating results if RPM is stopped as it is something that was used by the teacher in the school. It is something that is worth investigating and if it works for children, as it has worked for Fiacre Ryan, it has to be explored in more detail.

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