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

"Nobody is treating this like the house is on fire". Those are the words that 12-year-old Cara Darmody used to describe her frustration at the lack of supports for autistic people and children in Ireland. She used them when addressing the Joint Committee on Autism in November alongside her dad Mark, when they spoke about their experiences seeking services for her brothers. I welcome Cara, Mark and so many other parents and activists on autism to the Public Gallery.

As Deputy Duncan Smith said, since this Government took office, this is the third time that the Labour Party has introduced legislation or motions in the Dáil seeking to rectify the lack of services for autistic people in Ireland. Each time, when the slot in Private Members business comes to an end, the institutional hostility that is shown by the State to parents, their children and autistic adults remains and goes unaddressed. I do not think anyone in this House is comfortable to hear about autistic children being denied access to education or to vital supports. I do not think any of us is comfortable hearing the deep concern and despair from parents at the prospects for their children, if they autistic, as they move into young adulthood. There is a pronounced lack of supports and services for these children. It appears to us in the Labour Party that nobody is treating this like the house is on fire. Thee buck stops with the Government. I welcome the fact that the Government is not opposing our motion. That said, we need to see action in respect of this matter. We hear so many times from younger and older autistic adults of how they were failed as children and of their concerns that autistic children are still being failed by the education system.

I commend and thank the national organisations that are working to strengthen and improve services. I refer to groups like AsIAm and Families Unite for Services and Support, FUSS, Ireland. I also refer to groups in my own constituency, namely, Neurodiversity Irishtown, Ringsend and Pearse Street, NIRP, Involve Autism D6D6W & Surrounds and the brilliant Ranelagh Rockets that are part of Ranelagh Gaels GAA club. Thanks to their campaigning and the passion of so many parents and so many communities, we are starting to see progress in schooling. That is acknowledged. I see classes St. Saint Mary's National School, Belmont Avenue, Templeogue College and the new Libermann Spiritan School in Templeogue. These improvements will be a lifeline for children and parents, but we are coming from a very low base. From all around the country I hear stories and experiences from people like those involved in the brilliant Rainbow Club in Cork or the Special Needs Action Group I met in Athy in Kildare on Monday. These are groups of parents who have come together because they are in despair at the lack of services offered to them and their children.

We are seeing a real failure in the context of the section 37A process, which could and should be used to secure education places and additional special classes. Since 2020, we have not seen this process being used. Three years is a long time in the life of a child when there is an established need among so many children in so many areas.

To give another example of failure, more than one in three approved posts in the CDNTs is lying vacant. Children are languishing on waiting lists for assessments for years. That is one of the issues we focus on in our motion. We recognise that getting an assessment is not a panacea either, as parents will be well aware. Unspent budgets and a staffing crisis across CDNTs means that the only meaningful effect of being seen is that a child is no longer recorded as awaiting care in official figures. In reality, that child will continue to not receive any adequate service.

Yesterday, I hosted a group from Ukrainian Action Ireland and heard about the experience of Ukrainians here who inform us that parents of neurodiverse children in the Ukrainian community are dismayed at the lack of services for their children. We hear from staff who are experiencing burn out and leaving for better paid jobs. As Deputy Smith stated, the Labour Party sought to address this by looking to increase pay for section 39 workers and those in the community and voluntary sector. However, we are hearing about annual staff turnover rates of 80% across CDNTs and community and voluntary sector workers. There is such dismay and frustration at the lack of services and the lack of co-ordination of services.

It is good to see both Ministers here. We welcome the Government's approach to our motion, but that is simply not enough. It is nice to reconnect with the familiar faces of the parents and activists in the Gallery, but I am deeply sad that there is still the need for them to come out again on this issue. We hear from parents who are exhausted from fighting for services for their children and who despair about the lack of services for young autistic people and autistic adults. It is really shameful that we are again debating this issue and that, as Cara Darmody put it so eloquently, nobody is treating this issue like the house is on fire.

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