George Lawlor (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I join Members in wishing the Minister and Minister of State well in their new portfolios.

We have a chronic situation with regard to special education in Ireland. The lack of places means missed milestone after missed milestone. This is a fundamental human rights issue that has affected countless children and their families. The affected children are plagued by insufficient resources and investment and a huge lack of trained professionals.

The children's carers and parents are trying to navigate more than one system. The are drained, exhausted and disillusioned. The families of the children in special education are dealing with more than one failed assistant. Let me give an example from CHO 5, which includes Wexford, my country, and also Waterford, Carlow-Kilkenny and south Tipperary. The children there and their families were dealing with the early intervention teams and were transferred to the new children's disability network in 2021, with all the bells, whistles and promises that came with the establishment of the teams. However, four years later, an unbelievable number of children, 700, and their families have yet to receive any contact whatsoever from their CDNT. Then they enter a school system that does not have the places or resources. Indeed, some of the children have aged out, or got to the age of 18, and are not in a position to access any of the services they required.

It is our duty in this Chamber to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves. I am told that if one gets an assessment of need today, having waited for a couple of years, it will be mid-2028 by the time one is actually seen by the services. The Ombudsman for Children's Office stated in September 2024 that 126 children with a special-needs place requirement were without a place. Budget 2025 provides funding for 400 special classrooms, which is to be welcomed, but as the Ministers can detect, there is no confidence that they will be provided. We absolutely owe it to the children to do everything in our power to provide them with what they now require, because it is now that they require the places. Their families and carers also require them. The exhaustion the families are suffering is palpable. It is no longer acceptable that the children of this nation, whom we are supposed to be cherishing as per our Proclamation, are suffering daily as a result of the inaction and lack of investment in this area. I urge the Minister to move on this as urgently as possible.

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