Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I will resubmit the questions when we come back after the break next week. There is a distance between what we are hearing officially and what is happening on the ground. Parents feel that the 40-plus children put into that special school were just put into a building and did not get the wraparound services they need. There is an occupational therapy room in the school but no occupational therapist. The room cannot be used as a result. The parents feel their children have been let down. It is like the Department just took them off the list, put them in the building and said it had done its part. Individual education plans for children with special needs could assist those children big time. Unless such supports are provided in schools, particularly in the special schools, children will not be able to reach their full potential in any shape or form. That is the general feeling of parents with children in special schools, so I am supporting the Bill.

We saw the "RTÉ Investigates" programme on psychologists last Monday. During the Topical Issue debate earlier, Deputy Tully and one of the Fine Gael Deputies stated that the profession will not be regulated for another couple of years. Even though those involved want to do it tomorrow, it is not going to happen for another couple of years. We have a situation where parents are going to private psychologists because they cannot get the assessments done via the public system. They are paying for those assessments out of their own pockets. Many of these people are single parents. They are affected by the impact of the energy crisis and everything else. They are being told that the assessments are not being accepted because it is not clear that they are up to a certain standard. That is why I will support the Bill. It puts in place for children and parents a pathway to support children by means of a plan for mainstream schools. I will be delighted to hear what the Minister of State has to say.

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