I want to raise an issue I raised by way of a Commencement matter yesterday to ensure when we resume after the summer recess we can have a real conversion about the expulsion of kids with special needs from schools. I have spoken about autism and special needs many times in this House but every time I read a newspaper article or get an email and read the words “violent”, “behavioural challenges” or “not suitable for the school” I cannot seem to wrap my head around why that is an acceptable thing to say. I read a story in The Irish Times a few weeks ago about another school, Stepping Stones Special School. I am not sure where it is based. A mother, Lourdes, spoke eloquently in that newspaper article about the experience her family has had of their 16-year-old boy, Conor, being expelled from the school. I cannot understand how an educational setting, established to meet a particular set of needs, frames things as behavioural challenges or deals with things in a punitive way. Kids are literally expelled from schools that are supposed to be set up to meet their needs. It is framed that the schools were not a suitable placement for those children. How can we say a school is set up, resourced and its staff trained to work with children with additional needs but when they present with those additional needs, they are told they have too many additional needs or their meltdowns are too much for that school? It is framed as if there was a breakdown in communication or a breakdown with the family or with the school when we have not levelled enough of the blame on the schools. They cannot continue to claim to be schools that specialise in these areas and then expel kids for the very reason that they are there. Meltdowns vary and manifest themselves in different ways. They can be very physical, loud, include lots of crying or lashing out. The answer in some schools is to expel those kids for the very thing that they do most naturally to calm down and to manage a sensory overload and the situation in the school. If our schools are set up supposedly to meet the needs of children like Conor, how can schools expel such children? How does that make sense? We need to start to have a real conversation about the fact that if a school is set up to meet additional needs and expels a child, that school cannot meet the criteria of being that type of school.

We need to address this as we go into another academic year to ensure no more children become collateral damage due to our inability to create educational systems that can meet their needs. When we resume after the recess in September, I would love if we could have a conversation on meeting the constitutional right of children to be able to access education.

I fully support Senator Ruane. I was going to raise that issue. Like her, I was horrified when I saw how Conor had been treated. It is so wrong. His mother eloquently spoke about how he looked out the window waiting for the bus to collect him to bring him to school every single day but, as of now, he has no place to go. It is appalling. No child in this country should be in that situation.

I second Senator Chambers's stalking Bill. We must seek to make our country a safer place for women and for all. That Bill certainly would be another piece of the armoury.

I thank the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, for his sanctioning the drug, patisiran, at the weekend. Members would have heard me speak about Pat Tinsley and his need for this lifesaving drug. Only this day last week I raised this issue in the Seanad. I was thrilled to get a phone call from the Minister over the weekend advising me that this drug was going to be sanctioned.

It is literally life-saving for Pat and his peers.

The main issue I wish to mention here is the 12-month ban on gay men donating blood which I raised some time ago. Two weeks ago, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service announced that it was importing a bulk consignment of blood from the UK for the first time since the late 1900s due to a current shortage of supply here in Ireland.

This 12-month ban does not exist in England so gay men who were willing to donate blood in the UK would very possibly be donating blood to us in a situation where gay men here cannot donate blood unless they consider that they have not had sex with another man for 12 months. This is a blatant discrimination and inequality. I commend Tomás Heneghan for highlighting this and for his campaign. PrEP is a medication taken by HIV-negative men and is available through the HSE free of charge. I recommend that the Minister and the Department of Health would look at a situation where if they can prove that gay men are taking PrEP that they would then give blood. This is a discrimination and an inequality that should be addressed. I thank the Cathaoirleach.