Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, and congratulate him on his efforts to tackle the serious difficulties experienced in the area of special needs education.

Everybody, especially the parents of those with special needs and autism, recognises the past neglect that has occurred in this area. On 17 October 2001, the Minister of State's predecessor stated in the House that in the past, the extent to which support services were provided was entirely dictated by resource availability in any given year and that all this changed in 1998 when the Government took the unprecedented step of deciding that all children with special needs in the primary system should have automatic entitlement to the supports they required, irrespective of their level of need or location. In effect, the Government introduced a demand-driven system where the needs of the child rather than the availability of resources became the deciding factor.

Almost three years' later the same situation pertains. In many instances, access to and the provision of services to people who have been identified as being in need, still remain inadequate and unavailable. That is the tragic reality. Many parents and siblings of autistic people throughout the country are grappling with this problem. The Minister's endeavours heretofore are totally inadequate to address the needs of young people with autism.

Educationalists agree on the need for early identification and attention. Until recently GPs were unable to identify autism. Parents usually brought the matter to the attention of medical professionals. We need to see change.

The Minister must respond to the disturbing situation that exists among certain groups dealing with autism. I refer the Minister of State to an article in Phoenix magazine of 9 April 2004 which raises concern about various autism facilities throughout the country. It drew attention to the egoistic behaviour of a certain family in pursuing the governance of societies dealing with autism. The article referred, in particular, to two centres, one in County Galway called Tigh Ronan and another at Dunfirth farm near Enfield, County Meath. I urge the Minister of State to allay the fears of the many people who worked hard to provide such centres to deal with local needs. The management and utilisation of funding of these centres must be thoroughly investigated. Parents were unaware of what was taking place. While other such centres exist, the article focused, in particular, on the two to which I referred.

The Western Health Board, of which I was a member, was asked to intervene in this matter on several occasions. Litigation was subsequently initiated and the Irish Society for Autism was challenged regarding its power to change the locks on certain properties thus denying people access to services.