Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

I second the motion and commend my Labour colleague, Deputy Eoghan Kenny, who has devised this motion and tabled it with such passion and strong advocacy. I welcome those in the Public Gallery who join us for the debate. We have quite a number of parents and groups campaigning on behalf of children who have been deprived of their right to an education by the State. I will single out from my own constituency the Neurodiversity - Irishtown, Ringsend and Pearse Street, NIRP, organisation, whose representatives are here, and one of our Labour councillors, Ali Field, who is in the Chamber. Six years to the day today, Ali was protesting outside Leinster House, calling for a school place for her son James. It also happens to be Ali's birthday. Happy birthday, Ali. I hope she will hear some good news today.

I acknowledge the enormous campaigning work done around the country by many parents, local representatives and groups such as Education Equality, Involve Autism in my constituency and the national group AsIAm. They campaign tirelessly on behalf of their children, but they should not have to do so. The reason they are on sleepovers outside the Department of Education, lobbying us and in here today is because the State is failing their children. The Labour Party's motion sets out nine clear requests of the Government. If it adopted those nine requests, or even if the Minister committed today to adopting them, it would give some positive news to parents like Ali Field and others that something would be done for their children. Instead, what we have seen, as Deputy Kenny said, is a disappointing amendment from the Government. With respect, it amounts to a gaslighting of children, parents and staff to table an amendment that is full of statistics and figures but does not really answer the primary issue for parents and children who are dealing every day with the Government’s failure to vindicate the basic right of every child to an education. I think of the many parents who have told me about the battles they have been having to secure that education for their children. Theirs are harrowing stories. A mother told me of the long months on a waiting list to achieve an assessment of need for her three-year-old daughter. A grandmother is in despair because her daughter cannot get a school place for her six-year-old son. We all hear about these issues every day in our constituencies.

In my home area of Dublin Bay South, there is a huge amount of voluntary effort under way, just as there is across the country, to try to provide a means of filling the gaps that the State has left. We have seen events such as the Sensoria festival on Merrion Square; initiatives like NIRP, which worked with Dublin City Council to secure autism-friendly and neurodiverse spaces; and Ranelagh Rockets, the fantastic GAA initiative in my constituency that has been working tirelessly to provide sports facilities and sports amenities for children who have no other outlets for sports. All these groups are showing the power of community and proving that it is possible to achieve an accessible society. However, they are filling gaps left by the State.

Look at the serious gaps in particular areas. I acknowledged to the Taoiseach yesterday that progress had been made. We have seen some good examples of new special schools and special classes opening - we will be the first to acknowledge that - but there are still enormous gaps across the State. In Dublin 6 and Dublin 6W where the Involve Autism group has been campaigning, there are serious gaps in the system. Children are still being bussed out of the area at enormous cost - a human cost to them and their families and an enormous financial cost to the State - in order to access special classes elsewhere. Even where special classes or schools are set up, there is a lack of wrap-around therapeutic supports. Involve Autism asked me to raise directly with the Minister its concern about the lack of recruitment of therapists and for support services that are so badly required. Teachers and SNAs are not therapists. We need to see all of these measures in place.

I will finish by referencing a particular school in Templeogue, the Libermann Spiritan School, which opened in 2023. It was very welcome. It serves 43 children aged from four years to 18 years from across south and south-west Dublin. It does very positive work but has serious resource issues. The school principal, Vivienne Wynne, tells me she has never encountered a crisis as severe as the one unfolding now, yet the request for increased services has been denied. I understand that the Minister of State, Michael Moynihan, is visiting the Libermann school at 1.45 p.m. An invitation to local representatives only issued yesterday afternoon. We all fervently hope that that visit will be accompanied by an announcement of additional resources, particularly an increased allocation of therapy services.

This sort of last-minute action does not resolve the ongoing structural and fundamental problem for children across the State who require special education or have additional educational needs. We need to hear from the Minister a clear plan of action. Our motion with its nine clear requests sets that out and would offer hope to parents and children currently being failed by the State.

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