Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. There is work to be done with our providers, by whom I mean the Department of Education and Bus Éireann, and in special education, not only on awareness but also on understanding. There should be understanding and awareness of what it is to be an autistic child, what it is to be the parent of an autistic child and how they need to be supported. They are no different to any other child trying to access education. Ping-ponging parents over and back is not acceptable. What is acceptable is inclusion and the right of the child to participate on the bus in an equal way to all others, and the right of the child to be supported. Sometimes we need to understanding the barriers to support the family, whether it is noise on the bus, whether a situation is too loud for the child or whether somebody might be upsetting child. No different from Deputy Canney, only this week I heard of children not being allowed to attend transition year programmes because they are on the autism spectrum or they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. They are the very children who need to participate in such programmes.

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