Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

In early 2002 the Government withdrew the disability Bill and promised it would reintroduce a Bill that would be meaningful and helpful and which would respond to the needs of many people with disabilities. In the meantime, a new version of the Bill has been produced but it has not satisfied the various organisations dealing with people with disabilities and their parents. The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill has been introduced under the aegis of the Minister for Education and Science. Like the other Bills, it also promised much.

All of us read with horror a story in today's newspaper about a family in Kells in County Meath with four children suffering from autism. Both parents had to give up their jobs and are now full-time carers. They have about two hours' rest per day in which to sleep. Both the Department of Health and Children, through the aegis of the Health Service Executive, and the Department of Education and Science have failed this family miserably. The needs of the family were assessed over a year ago and the parents have been at loggerheads in every way with the Health Service Executive regarding their efforts to be granted the supports they need. The executive has failed. The family has been on a waiting list for education places for two years. Every day, Ministers criss-cross the constituency of Meath. I ask that one of them, be she responsible for health or education, call to this family and guarantee it, once and for all, that there is somebody willing to help.

In a letter in yesterday's Irish Times, a homeless person is quoted as having said: "They don't see you now, they examine you on the computer and give you a piece of paper, then you leave." If this represents the stage we have reached in this country, it is very bad.