Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will briefly raise two issues. I met a group of parents in north Dublin this morning regarding class places for children with special needs, in particular, autism. This is something that this House could do some work on. It is a topic I raise frequently. The issue partly is that it falls between the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Health, and children and parents are falling between those two stools. Perhaps the Leader could facilitate a debate with the Minister for Education and Skills to discuss the availability of places for children and the entire process that parents go through. Once they get a diagnosis at an early age, they are given a list of schools to apply to and it is pot luck as to whether they get a place. In a spirit of co-operation and bipartisanship, we could facilitate that discussion and talk about not only the immediacy of the issue for these particular parents but how the system could be enhanced and improved. There are lengthy waiting lists as well for early intervention for children across north Dublin and I am sure that is replicated throughout the country. While we have made advances in this area, there is much more to do. I would appreciate the opportunity to have that debate.

I would also appreciate the opportunity to have a debate with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport regarding the Football Association of Ireland, FAI, although this important issue is up for discussion at an Oireachtas joint committee meeting in two weeks. The House should have a say on how the public money is being spent by the FAI. I am fast coming to the conclusion that a change will only happen if the Government decides to withhold funding from the association. That would be the nuclear option but when one thinks of how important this game is for many people in Ireland, and when one thinks of disadvantaged communities that love this game, the power of the game and how poorly it is being run, the question marks over the financial arrangements within the FAI, and the fact that the former CEO can be given a new position within the organisation, significant corporate governance issues need to be addressed. I am not sure whether the Oireachtas joint committee can get to the bottom of everything because there are many matters on its plate. If we were to have a discussion in this Chamber with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I would suggest that perhaps it is time for the State to do what it can possibly most powerfully do and threaten to withhold funding from the FAI on the basis that it does not justify the funding that it gets. If they were to get their house in order and put a new regime in place to put children and players at the centre of what they do for the betterment of the game in Ireland, they would justify their funding and, in fact, they would justify much more funding in future. I ask for that debate as well.