Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann noting that:

the Minister for Education and Science has been slow to enact the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act, (EPSEN) 2004 as advised by the National Council for Special Education;

schools and parents have difficulty accessing psychological assessments;

parents of children with autism and other special needs still find themselves in the courts in order to obtain an appropriate education for their child;

children with special needs are subjected to lengthy waiting lists in order to access necessary therapies such as speech and language, occupational, physiotherapy and sensory;

child and adolescence psychiatry services in Ireland remain inadequate and under resourced such services also have waiting times of up to three years or closed lists;

and calls on the Government to:

fully adopt and implement the recommendations of the National Council for Special Education on rolling out of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act (EPSEN) 2004;

act immediately to resolve the barriers facing children with special needs and their families in accessing essential services;

increase the number of national educational psychologists in order to be in a position to meet the commitment in the programme for Government to increase the number of psychologists to 200 by 2009; and

recognise the importance of early intervention and support services for children with special needs.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Jimmy Devins. I put this motion on the Order Paper as a result of the huge concern throughout the country about the difficulties parents are experiencing in accessing assessments for their children, getting inpatient beds where they are required and the huge difficulties schools and school principals have in accessing the support services they believe are required for children in their care. The motion aims to highlight the need to implement fully the EPSEN Act of 2004 as a matter of urgency and as advised by the National Council for Special Education. The council advised the Minister to bring the timetable for implementation forward as it considered it inappropriate that children should have to wait until the implementation date contained in the Act.

The motion highlights the need for the Government to address the shortage of psychologists and the huge difficulties encountered by schools and parents in obtaining assessments, the long waiting lists for speech and language therapies and other therapies which parents know their children need and, in some cases, have been advised by assessments that they need, and the difficulty many parents encounter when trying to obtain an appropriate education for their children. In the absence of these services parents must resort to the courts, as was graphically seen recently. Fine Gael also put down this motion as a result of the failure of the Government to fund an adequate number of mental health initiatives, its failure to ring-fence the funding for mental health, the stripping of assets from mental health facilities and the diversion of funding, as is evident at Beaumont Hospital where the site for a unit that was meant to replace facilities in St. Ita's has now been taken for a co-located hospital. This is a disgraceful abandonment of a commitment to people suffering from mental health difficulties.

There is a failure to provide adequate services in child and adolescent psychiatry throughout the country. Evidence of this is the closed list in Kill, County Kildare. Families in that area can no longer access the service because the list is effectively closed and is not taking referrals. Other child and family services throughout the country have waiting lists of one to three years. What are parents supposed to do with children who have mental health difficulties and who need help now, not in three years? Everybody is aware of the value of early intervention in such cases. This is the 11th year of Fianna Fáil-led Government, a Government that inherited a surplus in the public finances and a strong economy, yet these are the statistics and the experience of children with special needs.

This country has experienced huge economic growth. The Celtic tiger roared loudly, but the roar was not even a whimper when it came to caring for children with special educational needs or those in need of psychiatric services. Why has this not been a priority area, as is evident from the detailed report, The Lie of the Land, launched some time ago and the waiting lists I have mentioned? Every Member of the House is aware of cases of children with special needs being unable to access an appropriate education, receive a diagnosis or obtain vital services such as speech and language therapy. If one does not get a diagnosis for one's child, how can one know what the child needs or the range of services that would benefit the child? If one cannot get a diagnosis, it is difficult to access the services appropriate to the child.

What is the Government's response to the motion? I condemn the long amendment it has put forward. It is full of words which try to paint everything in the garden rosy. I would be far more impressed if the Government had acknowledged the waiting lists and the difficulties, as opposed to complete denial in the face of the reality of poor services, and sought the support of the Opposition in trying to find a way forward and having a debate that examines the barriers that exist, the reasons the money is not being effectively spent in this area and why services are still not available to children. We know the number of children involved so we should surely be able to deal with their needs in a country such as this, given the type of economy we have had over the last 11 years. I will be saddened and disappointed if the Green Party accepts the Government amendment. Only 11 months ago that party was committed to this issue and critical of the Government's appalling record, a record that has not changed or improved in the time the Green Party has been in Government.

The amendment is an insult to families of special needs children. It is an insult to Bridget Keane and John Butler and their son Mark. Mark has Down's syndrome and in their local newspaper his parents spoke of how the lack of speech therapy is hampering his development. Ms Keane said that with proper help and intervention Mark could reach his full potential but that very little help was available. Mr. John Lindsay, the chief executive of Down's syndrome Ireland, went even further when he said: "The provision of this service by the State has reached crisis point". Mr. Lindsay is on the front-line working with children with Down's syndrome and their parents. He is aware of the situation. I accept the amendment's statement that there is increased funding. However, there is still huge difficulty because people cannot access the services they need. Why is this happening? Why did the Ó Cuanacháin family in Arklow, County Wicklow, have no choice but to take the Minister for Education and Science and the State to the High Court to try to obtain an appropriate education for their autistic son, Seán?

This amendment is an insult to every family waiting for a psychological assessment for their children and who have had to endure broken promises and unfulfilled commitments by the Minister with regard to increasing the number of educational psychologists. Some of the wording in the amendment is ridiculous. I ask any member of the Government to find a principal from any school in the country who will agree with what is said in the amendment, that schools are happy with the level of resources they have been given, are happy to assess the child's educational needs themselves and that there is no need for an educational psychologist in many cases.