Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the delay in implementing a national autism empowerment strategy. The issues affecting autistic children and adults are long-standing. Families, children and adults have had to battle for years for basic rights and entitlements. On World Autism Day 2019, my colleague in the Dáil, Deputy Funchion, secured unanimous support for her motion calling for a national autism strategy. That motion caused for an all-party Oireachtas committee to be established and to produce a national strategy. Ireland is one of the few countries that does not have such a strategy; instead, parents are left to battle the system and rely on support and advice from NGOs and parent support groups. A national strategy would ensure there would be a one-stop shop that people could access for all of their needs, including diagnosis, occupational therapy and speech and language. It would ensure Departments would share and co-operate, including the Departments of health, transport and education. Waiting lists would be co-ordinated so families do not find themselves continuously pushed to the back of the queue every time they need to access a different support. A national strategy would also ensure we have enough school places and additional educational needs, AEN, class places, and that we have fit for purpose second level supports.

I met with the Autism Equality Dublin Bay parents group last week and its members outlined deep frustration with mixed messages regarding AEN classes in the area. With many children facing a new term without a school place, they were informed that the Shellybanks Educate Together National School has planning permission for two prefabs to be installed on the current grounds to enable the opening of an AEN class and sensory room for September 2021. When those parents in the local area, anxious to find a place for their child for the coming school year, contacted the school, they were told the school believes the timeline to be unmanageable and the parents would have to wait. This is not good enough. The planning permission and the space are there. The parents and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, are willing to work with the school to assist them in any preparation needed. The refusal of the school to expedite the AEN classroom is a slap in the face to parents who are desperate to find places for their neurodiverse children within their community.

Neurodiverse children should not be forced to leave their communities to access an education. We need equality across the school system and it is not good enough that access to AEN classes is decided by boards of management not local need. I ask the Leader of the House to see if we can have an update on when the Government will progress the national autism empowerment strategy that was passed unanimously in the Dáil in 2019.