Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps it is time the truth was told. These children have been waiting 11 years and they cannot wait another year. Does the Minister of State think it is acceptable that children should have to wait another year and that a generation has lost out while successive Ministers stood over this? Will action be taken now even on an interim basis? I raised this issue in the Dáil and in person with the formers Ministers for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, and Ruairí Quinn, and nothing was done, which is unacceptable. Reasonable people would wonder whether we are tied up in bureaucratic red tape with officials saying a form was not submitted on time through no fault of the parents and the pupils. They would have submitted the documents. Senator Swanick will also have some knowledge of this. They have spent significant time lobbying and courting the Department for some fairness.

There needs to be an intervention, otherwise the Department is showing itself up as a bureaucratic nightmare that does not respond to the educational needs of children in a vulnerable situation. Their community has lived with the fallout of the Corrib gas project. Is it just lip service or does the DEIS programme mean something? Measures need to be taken between now and next September. I acknowledge the Minister of State is only new to this brief but he has championed people in disadvantage. I am hoping for a breakthrough because the parents and the school have had enough of being ignored. I ask the Minister of State to act.