Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)

We have had this debate continuously during my time in the House, and I have been a Deputy for eight and a half years. Unfortunately, we will continue to have this debate until the issue is resolved. It has not been resolved by any means. The brutal truth is that more than 120 children had no school place in September. A state providing a child with a school place seems elementary. I will not make this personal, but at a time when the State is awash with money, someone has to ask whether, if this is not about money, it is about bad planning. Someone is to blame when a child cannot find a school place. These are simple things.

If the child does not get a place, it has a knock-on effect on the child and the family. Home-schooling is sometimes not appropriate. It is a failure - I use that word sensitively - of the State if it cannot provide them with school places. This has a knock-on effect on assessments of need and the consequent therapies. There is the bizarre situation of families having to take the State to court over the State breaching the Disability Act 2005. Laws are made in the Oireachtas and enacted so that they can work, but the Disability Act does not work where assessments of need are concerned. If families have to go to the High Court to make the State provide these therapies and assessments, then something is dramatically wrong.

I wish to touch on the solutions we are proposing. There are a number of solutions where the considerable vacancies in children's disability network teams are concerned. Vacancies of 40% to 50% will have a knock-on effect, with people having to wait years in some cases. If they have the money, they will go private, but these are expensive therapies.

The knock-on effect from the top affects the most vulnerable children in our society. That is just not good enough when this country is awash with money - we do not know what to do with the money. With money, forbearance and planning, we could ensure this is not allowed to happen. This does not have to happen.

Children should have a place to go to school. Families, come September, should not have to worry about having a place for their child. With proper planning and choice, this problem can be solved. I do not know whether the Government has the stomach to solve that problem, but when children do not have places in school and there is a knock-on effect, somebody somewhere does not have the stomach to solve this problem.

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