Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

Once again, I am talking about families who have to go to court, but in this case I know the number involved. There are 150 families awaiting a hearing who have taken a case against the State to obtain services for their children. Why is the Department of Education and Science allowing this situation to develop? It is extraordinary that 150 cases await court hearings at present. How has the Government and the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Mary Hanafin, allowed a situation to develop whereby parents feel they have no choice but to undertake legal action to obtain an appropriate education for their children? These cases involve children with special needs. Why has this situation been allowed to prevail at the tail end of the Celtic tiger and why does the Department believe this is the way for parents to obtain services for their children?

No parent wants to go to court or engage in a media scrum outside a court building while trying to fight for educational equality for his or her child. No parent wants to risk the financial safety and stability of the family unit in taking such cases. However, parents often have no choice. It appears the approach adopted by the Minister and her Department has created this environment of stand-offs rather than engagement and consultation with parents. Everyone in this House knows that parents of children with special needs have better things to be doing than fighting court cases, getting legal opinions and taking on the cost of such cases.

Today in this House we heard statements on the 70th anniversary of our Constitution, a document which recognises the role of parents as the primary educators of their children. The hands-on experience, knowledge and in-depth understanding every parent has of his or her child is ignored by the Department, however, when it comes to autism. If the Department were to put as much time and resources into providing sufficient, adequate and appropriate educational facilities for children with autism as it does into court cases, the country would be much better served.

The Minister and her Department should accept some responsibility for their part in the overall cost of the various court cases. In the recent Ó Cuanacháin case, for example, the family's legal costs should be met by the Department of Education and Science. Those costs were only incurred because of the Department's failure to address and meet the educational needs of Seán Ó Cuanacháin. The case lasted as long as it did because of the legal arguments put forward by the Department and while I do not want to dwell on costs, one must ask how legal costs of this magnitude developed in the case in question.

There are 150 cases concerning special needs education awaiting a court hearing. The Minister must address the question whether every case will be taken in the manner of the Ó Cuanacháin case or whether we will see proactive engagement by her Department so that parents do not have to follow the legal route. Is the Minister of State, Deputy Trevor Sargent, as a member of a party in Government with Fianna Fáil, who raised this issue when in Opposition, happy to see what is happening at the moment, whereby children are not getting the treatment and services they need and their parents must go to court on their behalf? It is appalling.

We have a major problem with disability and it emanates from the Disability Act 2005. I ask Deputy Sargent and the Green Party to pay attention to that fact. An implementation plan for the education of persons with special educational needs is lacking. I do not detect a seriousness on the Government's part. The eye has been taken off the ball in providing services to people with special educational needs.

The Minister of State must explain to the House why this situation has developed and inform Members whether 150 other families will be forced to go through what the Ó Cuanacháin family went through. Will the Minister for Education and Science put in place a model of education which includes applied behavioural analysis, ABA, to meet the needs of children with autism?