I thank colleagues in Sinn Féin for bringing forward the motion. In my constituency, Dublin West, we have seen sustained challenges over many years in respect of parents being able to secure appropriate places for their children in local schools. I know the Minister and Minister of State are aware of that. Right now, there remain children who I know do not have an appropriate place assigned to them for September at primary and secondary level. The Minister said on the radio last week that no child would be left without a place this September, but that deadline is getting closer and closer. The opportunity for these children to acclimatise to their new school setting is a transition that is often significantly more challenging for a child with autism. That opportunity has been lost. I appeal to the Minister and Minister of State to engage with the NCSE and make sure that necessary school places are delivered in Dublin West. Where schools are being asked to open new autism classes at short notice, they should be fully supported in doing so. I want to raise the case of Hansfield Educate Together National School. An ANA review sought by the school resulted in no additional staffing being provided. The school has seen a significant increase in the number of students with the highest care support needs joining in September of this year, yet it has not received an equivalent increase in ANAs. The school management is desperately concerned about the ability of the school to meet the needs of existing students and the new students who will be joining the school in September. When will the Minister and Minister of State publish the report of the Dublin 15 schools task force? It was handed over to their predecessors in July last year. We have now been waiting over eight months for the report to be published and for officials to deal with it. A huge amount of work went into it and more and more it appears to be the case that there is an effort to ignore or sideline the report's important recommendations. The Minister and Minister of State urgently need to publish the report.

Sentiment score: 0.18