Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)

The Government has had four years to produce a review of the 2004 Act, and God knows how much it has cost. Ultimately, it tells us what we already know. The problem is that the review of this Act is now telling us to review another Act, the Disability Act 2005. It is an incredible situation.

The Government talks about the need for a legal, rights-based, inclusive education system but we all know that when it comes to children with additional needs, this Government disregards those rights and actually breaks the law. It is quite incredible that the Government is a lawbreaking Government when it comes to the rights of children with special needs. It is remarkable that any government would be in that situation. The Taoiseach is on the record as saying that the HSE is not in a position to fulfil the law on assessments of need and that this should be completed within a six-month timeframe, but because of this situation, there is now a chance that 25,000 children will be on that waiting list before the end of the year.

We in Aontú stood with Cara Darmody outside the gates of Leinster House recently when she was involved in that 50-hour protest trying to seek the right to have assessments of need given in a timely fashion. Children without assessments of need are often left without a diagnosis, treatment or supports and locked out of the education system. If children do not have assessments of need or early interventions, it is a significant challenge to them achieving their potential. The Minister, Deputy Foley, told the Cabinet that this was misinformation. She said that information being put out was highly insulting, but listen to the families themselves, the families who are at the coalface of this crisis. The Government would do well just to sit down and speak to the families in this situation.

I will give an example from my constituency. I have been contacted by the foster mother of a seven-year-old boy who presents with very complex behavioural needs. That child has unfortunately been expelled from two preschools and suspended from a primary school four times. He is now being deprived of his rights to an education and has been abandoned by the system for nearly two years of waiting. The foster mother contacted Tusla, CAMHS, the disability services and social workers and has even tried to contact private psychologists, but everywhere she turns, she is met with a wall of delays. When Tusla found out that she had contacted me, it actually scolded her for contacting a TD in this situation, casting a chilling effect on her and her ability to advocate for her foster son. That is a shocking situation and I come up against it on a regular basis where TDs cannot advocate on behalf of citizens. There should be a constitutional right for TDs to be able to advocate in a situation where the rights of children are being denied and the efforts of parents are being spurned.

What is the Minister of State's advice for my constituent when her foster child is being refused an assessment and his legal right to education? For this child, there is a tragic and direct link between the lack of essential services available to him and his ability to grow and thrive in an educational system.

I ask that the Minister talk to me and the parents to see whether there is a pathway for the parent to vindicate the child's right.

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