I am genuinely shocked at the Minister's response to this motion. Last week, the Government and the Minister spread fear, trepidation, confusion and chaos across this country for parents, special needs assistants and entire school communities. There is not even a mention of an apology or an "I am sorry" in her contribution. That is disappointing, to say the least. It indicates to me that the Government does not understand what it has done to parents, special needs assistants and school communities over the past couple of weeks. Parents of children with special needs have to fight and advocate for everything for their child. The minute they discern the slightest problem, there is anxiety, stress and sleepless nights. Then they have to look for an assessment of need for which there are huge waiting lists of over two and a half years, even though time and early intervention are absolutely vital. Many of them have to scrimp and scrape to go privately for an assessment and a diagnosis. Then they have to fight to get a school place. They may have to go to the High Court for that. When they get a school place it may be anything up to 25 miles from their home. I had a case of that only last year. Parents are under pressure from day one and are running on empty, with huge levels of stress, anxiety and sleeplessness. Earlier today, the Taoiseach refused to answer the core question in this whole issue. Again, the Minister refused to address it in her contribution this evening. The core issue is the criteria by which a child with special needs is allocated a special needs assistant. The current situation is simply untenable and unacceptable. It is outdated, too narrow and does not reflect the duties currently being carried out by special needs assistants in our schools. The contribution of the Minister indicates to me that last week's pause was simply a cynical exercise to buy time, and that the climbdown last night, welcome as it is, was forced by protests on the streets and protests promised for tomorrow and the weekend. The current situation, where a child with autism who is overwhelmed, a child who is anxious and unable to learn without adult support, a child who needs help with communications, a child who needs help with social understanding or a child who needs help with emotional distress or sensory difficulty does not qualify for a special needs assistant, simply has to change. That is what the protests are about, and those protests are going to continue until that situation changes.

Sentiment score: -0.17