Laura Harmon (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and look forward to engaging with him in his brief.

It is safe to say this is one of the biggest access-to-education issues we are facing in this country. Approximately 100 children in Cork are still waiting to be offered a school place this September. I recently attended in Cork city a protest on this issue organised by Nicole Hosford. I actually bumped into her today. I believe she has been up for meetings in Leinster House today. I heard from parents and families at the protest who have had to become full-time campaigners for their children. We heard the dream of some parents. All they want is to be able to go into Buckley’s shop in Shandon Street, Cork, to buy a school uniform for their children so they can go to school with all the other children. We know that at least 200 children with special educational needs nationally have had to seek some home tuition as a last resort because a school place was not readily available for them this school year.

Just the other day, I met representatives of the Rainbow Club, Mahon, Cork city. The organisation is providing an invaluable service to children and families who have been locked out of education and system supports. Currently, the organisation is supporting 1,342 people. It offers an incredible service and is seeking additional supports. To expand, it is seeking a new premises. Its representatives speak very highly of Senator Rabbitte, who engaged with them previously.

Ireland has ratified the Optional Protocol to the UNCRPD but children’s disability network teams remain underfunded and understaffed. It is vital that we implement an autism guarantee to secure an appropriate school place for every child and develop a fully inclusive model of education that vindicates the right to education of all children across a range of disabilities and complies with the UNCRPD and UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Disability advocacy organisations must be part of this process when developing new policy initiatives, and it is essential that we get the people working in this field to be part of any policy initiatives and changes. It is very simple. We need to see an expansion of the educational therapy support service through the NCSE, more in-school therapists and the provision of better training for teachers while they obtain teaching degrees.

On SNAs, we should get rid of the 72-hour obligation and provide training to QQI level 6 equivalent.We need to undertake an autism audit of all schools and provide autism CPD training to school staff to ensure that mainstream schools can facilitate the inclusion of autistic children to the greatest extent possible.

I welcome this debate. I fully support the motion from Sinn Féin and I thank the party for bringing it forward.