Last night, the daily struggle of Gillian Bolger and Darren Milne to look after their eight year old twins, Kyle and Ryan, who both have autism and other health issues, was harrowingly revealed. The story showed where the Government, through its agencies, has clearly failed these children and parents, and many more parents, due to the shortage of school places and the inadequacy of timely and regular access to therapies such as occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy. I ask the Taoiseach to look at that ten-minute segment at the end of "Prime Time". Gillian summed up the feelings of many parents of children with special needs. She asked a question which is asked of many of us. Why are these children not prioritised when it comes to getting into school? Every other kid goes back to school in September. Why is there always a problem for quite a number of children with special needs in getting school places in September? They said they had to fight every day, tooth and nail, to secure services for their children. The father, Darren, who works with Bus Éireann, had to cut down his week as the children with their health needs had to come out of school. Because they came out of school, they could not get home tuition. They had to fight for 12 months to get back home tuition. The father could only work two days a week. The couple's income went down, their mortgage went into arrears and they are now facing repossession. Their plight sums up the struggle and fighting that so many parents have to go through to get services for children with special needs. Many parents annually face these challenges in securing school places.

Before the recess, I met the special education council to discuss about six or seven cases, not within my own constituency. One child was 12 months outside secondary school and the mother of that child said exactly what Gillian Bolger said last night. She also told me her other son had no difficulty in getting a placement in his second level school while her child with special needs had to be out of school for 12 months. That is a fundamental failure on the part of the Government and the Minister for Education and Skills to provide for children with special needs as they should be provided for. It is a denial of their constitutional right. In my view, there is a terrible inertia within the Government towards this issue, which has been ongoing for some time. Last year, the Opposition forced through an amendment to the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 to give the power to the Minister to instruct schools to provide for children with special needs, to have specific autism classes. That is what was done in the 1990s in terms of primary education, when education was transformed in terms of access for children with special needs. There is no plan for second level. There is terrible inertia and a terrible lack of getting in there and getting it sorted. I ask the Taoiseach the question Gillian Bolger asked last night. Why are the children with special needs not prioritised above and beyond everybody else? They are being left behind and the parents are fighting too hard every day.

I thank the Deputy for his question. The matter of special needs is very important and I know that, as a former Minister for Education, the Deputy has had a real and genuine interest in that area down the years. All of us in this House are very aware of the struggles that many parents face in trying to ensure that their children receive the special education they need. While I do not want to comment on any individual case or family, the Minister for Education and Skills has committed to examining the particular case of Kyle and Ryan to see if there is anything more that can be done more quickly for them and their family.

When it comes to special education, there are essentially three options: a place in a special class in a mainstream school; a place in a special school; or home tuition. Sometimes those options do not work out and different options have to be tried but those three options are available. As I think people will want to acknowledge in the interests of fairness and accuracy, the truth is that in the round, children with special educational needs are being prioritised. There has been a huge investment in special education in recent years. The budget for special education is nearly €2 billion, with €1 in every €5 that we spend on education now spent assisting children with special educational needs. That is as much as we invest in higher education. It is a big change from five or ten years ago and shows how much we are prioritising special needs and special education. There are 10,000 children now in special classes, three times as many as there were in 2011. There has been a real ramping up and improvement in the provision of special places and special classes. There are now 15,000 special needs assistants, SNAs, in our schools. There are as many SNAs in the country as there are gardaí, even though the number of gardaí is going up as well. That is a dramatic improvement on where we were eight years ago. There are 13,000 special teachers. This is an area that is being invested in and prioritised. We are in a much better place than we were eight years ago. However, there are plenty of individual cases and plenty of families who are not getting the support they need and deserve. We will continue to work on those cases as best we can.

We can quote the global figures. However, the number of children with special needs is growing. We had an increase in the number of schoolgoing children generally across the board, which does result in increased provision of teachers and SNAs to meet that demographic increase. Last year, about 850 children were availing of home tuition, which reveals an absence of school places for them. In Youghal, for example, there is no second level unit for autism in the school catchment area. I assume other Deputies would have other cases within their own areas. There is no plan for second level. In my own constituency over the last six years, about two schools have been providing for second level pupils with autism. A teacher in Cork brought all the Deputies together and asked us to sponsor an amendment to give power to the Minister to engage with schools to provide for children with special needs. Too many schools have no unit for children with autism. There is no proactivity from the Minister or the Department of Education and Skills. They are standing back, detached. There is a policy of containment. There is a fundamental lack of advocacy for the children within the education service. These children deserve a place in second level without the terrible struggle, daily battles and fighting that was revealed again last night in the "Prime Time" piece on Gillian and Darren. We thank them for having the courage to tell us their struggle because it shines a light on the struggles of many other parents in similar situations. I ask the Taoiseach to do something about this once and for all.

I thank the Deputy. That change to the law - the new section 37A of the Education Act - gave the Minister, for the first time, the power to instruct schools to take new special classes.

That power was used this summer for the first time.

That is all.

It was used in my own constituency to require schools to take on-----

It was way too late in the year.

-----and open additional special classes and that has caused some difficulty and consternation among school principals and also boards of management.

That is because the Minister did it during the summer holidays.

Yes, some of them were on holidays when they were asked to take on a special class, but I am glad the Minister has invoked that power to require schools to open new special classes and used it. We will work with the principals and boards of management to allay their concerns about taking on additional special classes.

Where I differ with the Deputy is that I do not think global figures should be dismissed so sanguinely. Figures are facts and behind those numbers there are real children. There are now 10,000 children in this country in a special class. That is three times the number eight short years ago. There are 15,000 special needs assistants, as many as we have gardaí, and 13,000 special educational needs teachers. That is a dramatic improvement, a trebling of services for people with special educational needs on eight years ago. There is an increase in demand but it has not trebled.

Why are there more being taught at home?