Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and I welcome the parents here in the Public Gallery. They are the warriors who have been fighting so hard. They have been fighting, taking legal action and pitching tents outside Leinster House. What are they fighting for? They are fighting for their basic rights and their constitutionally enshrined rights for access to education.

I was at a fair in Mayo over the Easter holidays and I met a beautiful family. The mother was nearly in tears because her child has no place in the education system. The child is locked out of the education system. There are 14,000 children across this State waiting for assessments of need. Some 13,000 children are waiting for their first contact with the children's disability network. There is a window of opportunity where children are undergoing rapid development from the ages of five, seven and ten. That age is critical. It is critical because to lose this opportunity for these children is a devastating loss. We know that early intervention and early resources at this critical age will have a dramatic impact on the ability of these children to live their lives independently. It is a sin and a crime that these children are being failed at such an important developmental time in their lives.

The Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, stated recently in a response that children do not require a diagnosis or an assessment of need to access services. While this is technically true, it shows an extreme lack of understanding of what is happening on the ground. Children without assessments of need are very often left at the bottom of the queue. That is the reality.

I know of a school in Mayo where children have an assessment of need and yet, due to the lack of resources, prioritisation is necessary. In this case, prioritisation was given to the younger child because it was believed that he would be longer in the school system. The older child was, essentially, left. That is what is happening on the ground. It is very disappointing that the Minister, Deputy McEntee's statement shows such a lack of understanding of what is happening on the ground.

I could go through years of statements where the Government and the previous one, and the Government from 2011, made commitments and realised the importance of early intervention. However, so little is happening on the ground. When are these endless promises going to be met?

The Government has made commitments this year. There is a huge shortage of psychologists and speech and language therapists and yet there is major bureaucracy around qualifying for the people, including young people, who want to access these careers. I call on the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, to prioritise these vulnerable children.

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