Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom tréaslú leis an Teachta Andrews as an obair atá déanta aige sa phíosa reachtaíochta seo mar is é a rinne formhór na hoibre uirthi. Is píosa reachtaíochta luachmhar atá inti. I commend Deputy Andrews. While I was happy to assist him with several elements, the bulk of the work was conducted by him and his office in consultation with the groups he has mentioned, namely Involve Autism, Dublin 6, and Neurodiversity – Irishtown, Ringsend and Pearse Street.

This legislation is valuable and would assist in several key ways. It would elevate the voices of parents and advocates from disability organisations. It would do certain things regarding data, to which I will return. The key point, which the National Council for Special Education and the Department need to focus on, is that we have much of the basis for the data and need to be able to marshal this in such a way that we are not scrambling for places every year. This is not an issue in the same area every year but it is recurring in places in Dublin Bay South, Kildare and Cork, where parents are struggling to find places in special schools and special classes, particularly post-primary special classes. That is not good enough. Schools that are resisting may have reasonable concerns but if they are not reasonable and if schools have no reasonable grounds for not opening a special class, pressure should be put on them.

The Bill achieves several objectives. It establishes the educational partners that should be consulted. It puts recognised disabled persons' organisations on a statutory basis, which is important. It allows for the publication of the cost of transport, which is eye-watering in Deputy Andrews's area. It is an absolute scandal, really, and the waste is remarkable. The Bill would require boards to incorporate inclusion policies into their admissions policies. There could be exceptions, particularly in the case of small schools. The Minister could lay down regulations in that regard.

Crucially, the Bill would strengthen the power of the special educational needs organisers. I know from dealing with them that, as in any job, there are very good ones and others who are not so good, but in some instances the difficulty is that their remit is not crystal clear. The Bill would clarify their role and allow them to recommend to schools in a more direct way the opening of special places. All in all, this is very valuable legislation that could assist right across the State, particularly where the crisis is particularly severe, such as the south side of Dublin.

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