Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

This week we heard about the case of a school in Dublin which has a facility for a special class for autistic children but lacks the necessary therapeutic staff to allow it to open. The Minister is wrong to say it should open anyway and provide an education to the children. This clearly indicates that the Minister — thus the Government — is approaching the issue with a very narrow idea of what constitutes an effective and meaningful education for persons with special needs or autism.

I ask the Minister to consider the way in which the Government has responded to the Ó Cuanacháin case and others. We all agree that the available education should be child-centred. I ask the Minister to publish the relevant documentation, as alluded to by Senator Alex White, in order that we can have a debate in an open and transparent manner. Education for persons with special needs must be viewed in a holistic context of academic and educational development, as pointed out by Senator Healy Eames. Education for many children with special needs is not about acquisition of the three Rs but the development of essential life skills, such as communication, self-care, and leisure and recreation skills, that enable them to participate in society in a meaningful way. In a recent statement in The Irish Times, Dr. Honan, one of the authors of the report of the task force on autism, criticised the Minister's stance regarding ABA.

Our concept of education must change. The traditional concept of education and traditional teaching methods might not be the best fit for some of these children. As mentioned by Senator Healy Eames, it is necessary to think outside the box when it comes to different approaches to education for children with special needs. Let us have a debate on the ABA method and on other methods such as TEACCH, PECS and Lovaas. The most important point of all is to focus in on the benefits to children. We must come up with a combination of approaches, because it is not a case of one size fits all.

The concepts of choice and respect for choice are important from the point of view of parents, providers and Government. The views of parents and professionals need to be listened to by the Departments of Education and Science and Health and Children, but they have not been so far. We need to listen. Why do we send people to the courts? What have we got to fear in the Ó Cuanacháin case? We must listen, as political representatives, as parents, as educationalists. We need a collaborative approach between parents, schools and the Department. Let us have that. We need to move away from going to the courts and putting people——