I am grateful for an opportunity to speak to this Private Members' motion on the urgent need to support
special needs pupils and not cut services to such young people.
I thank and commend my colleagues in the Technical Group for showing great courage and leadership on this matter.
I call on parents and teachers to come to Leinster House at 3 p.m. on Wednesday to show support for the campaign by the Technical Group to fight for services for all children with disabilities.
I challenge those in Government who actively support cuts to educational services for children with a disability.
They are penalising children for the actions of bankers and some developers and politicians.
Six months ago, Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin travelled around Dublin North Central ranting about cuts to educational services which had been introduced by the previous Government. Having used the issue to secure his election, it is a disgrace that he is actively supporting further cuts in education, specifically in the number of special needs assistants. His silence is deafening.
Once again, we have an example of broken promises being made to people in Dublin North Central and the rest of the country.
We all knew what the financial position was before the election. Deputy Ó Ríordáin had led our constituents up the garden path on education by actively supporting cuts. Such hypocrisy and false politics should always be challenged in the Chamber.
This debate presents Deputies with a choice. Either they are on the side of pupils with special needs
or they are not on their side. Deputy Ó Ríordáin and his party have chosen the latter option.
Others have made the same choice. In moving a motion in this House on 12 February 2008, the current Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Brian Hayes, who was then an Opposition Deputy, called for, among other things, additional funding for the provision of special needs education, including the provision of specialised education for children with autism, the full implementation of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 and a revision of the appeals process available to parents. He also criticised the extent to which parents were being forced to pursue education services for their children through the courts. Speaking in support of the motion, the current Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, who was then also an Opposition Deputy, stated that the Labour Party supported the motion unreservedly and asked the Minister to "recognise the validity of one-to-one teaching for some children". Referring to the Labour Party, he stated that the existing provisions were "the minimum that we would look for". Concluding the debate, Deputy Hayes called for political leadership on the issue, stating that people needed to be given hope and, above all, choice. Tonight, I call for political leadership and support for children with special needs and their parents.
The Government's measures will affect every child attending a primary school, not only those with special needs.
They will have a major impact on the most vulnerable children in society who should not have to bear the
brunt of financial mistakes they had no hand, act or part in making. Their effects will be felt by such children for the rest of their lives. As has been well documented, every €1 spent on children, especially children with learning difficulties and special educational needs, saves €7 in future costs. Many top class educationalists have researched this area.
Groups such as Inclusion Ireland, which campaigns for people with disability, strongly condemned the decision to cut back teaching hours and supports for children with disabilities. The Department of Education and Skills announced that from September onwards, schools will only be given 90% of the teaching hours they will need to meet the independently assessed needs of pupils with disabilities. This is another cutback in educational support for children with disabilities. These cuts are compounded by increasing class sizes which place children with a disability at further disadvantage. Inclusion Ireland continues to have major concerns about the lack of an independent appeals system in the area of special needs education.
I urge Deputies to support the motion by stepping up to the mark at 8.30 p.m. tomorrow night by supporting children with special needs and their families and attending tomorrow's protest.
Then we have the transcript of the Leaders Questions from the 13/07/11:
Deputy Finian McGrath:
On 22 June the Taoiseach gave a commitment
that services for children with special needs would be maintained. He
stated: "I also assure the House that all schools which enrol children
with special needs will have special needs assistants' support." Why,
then, is the Government cutting special needs services? Is this another
example of a broken promise? The current Minister for Education and
Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, made a similar promise while in opposition.
What does the Taoiseach say to the families who will be protesting
at the gates of Leinster House today at 3 p.m.? I agree with the
Taoiseach that the country is in hock, but it is about choices and how
we spend our money.
What does the Taoiseach say to the school principal of a very disadvantaged
school on the Northside of Dublin who recently wrote to me saying that
he was informed by the special education needs organiser that their class
for children with mild learning disabilities is to be suppressed? He
told me also that parents chose to send their children to his school for
its inclusive education experience, as promised by the EPSEN Act. What
is his response to these parents and teachers? What does he say to
the family of Aoife, a child with special needs, who is being refused transport
due to a technicality in the regulations while the bus passes her front
door? What does the Taoiseach say to groups such as the INTO and
Inclusion Ireland that are strongly opposing these cuts to the services
for children with disabilities?
The Taoiseach:
This matter has been dealt with on a
number of occasions by the Minister for Education and Skills in responding
to questions. The Deputy is aware that a cap of 10,575 posts was
placed on the number of special needs assistants in 2010. The current
number is 10,800, which means there must be a reduction in the number of
special needs assistants, although overall there will be more SNA staff
than ever before.
The Minister for Education and Skills has been very careful in his response
to the Private Members' business, which is being discussed. In fact,
the Minister has held back over 400 positions to deal with situations such
as those mentioned by the Deputy. I invited Deputy Ó Snodaigh to
send me details of a particular case, which appeared to me to be worthy
of the services of a special needs assistant. I do not know the details
of the cases raised by Deputy McGrath but I invite him to send them to
me. The reason the Minister for Education and Skills held a number
of these posts was that every school that requires it would have contact
and access to a special needs assistant. If there are unfortunate
circumstances, or particularly bad cases, there is a mechanism to deal
with them. I gave the Deputy some examples of where SNAs were appointed
regarding children with particular behaviours which in many cases might
not warrant a full-time SNA.
The priorities of the NCSE were to ensure that the minimum SNA to special class
ratio was maintained, that there would be support for children who are
incontinent, and that children who qualify for full day cover would be
assured of receiving it. The deferral of some of those positions
was to deal with cases that are in need of the services of a special needs
assistant. I invite the Deputy to send the details to me or to the
Minister for Education and Skills and they will be looked at in the context
of these criteria.
Deputy Finian McGrath:
First, I have already passed the details
of the three cases I mentioned to the Minister for Education and Skills
and I was not impressed with his response.
I am going to be very blunt. If the Taoiseach goes down the road
of cutting a service to children with special needs, not only are the children
with special needs being damaged but when the special needs assistants
lose their jobs, they will go back on the dole and will be in receipt of
welfare payments. In addition, some will qualify for a medical card
or rent allowance and that will cost the State more. From an economic
point of view, will the Taoiseach accept that cuts in this service will
damage the local community and the local economy?
In regard to his comments on
special needs assistants, 8,000 to 10,000 children come into the system
every year and a certain percentage of them, 400 to 500 children at least,
will have a special needs requirement. Putting a cap on the number
of SNAs will not work; it will be a disaster. Does the Taoiseach
wish Ireland to be in breach of Article 28.1 of the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child which states that every child has the right
to equal opportunity through education? Is that the Ireland the Taoiseach
wants? Does he and the Minister for public expenditure and reform,
Deputy Brendan Howlin, want to be in breach of the EPSEN Act 2004 when
the State has promised to assist children with special needs to leave schools
with the skills necessary to participate in society? Does the Taoiseach
want to end up in the courts again, at a cost of €20 million in legal
costs, like previous Governments? Half of such legal costs would
resolve the current SNA issue. Is that what the Taoiseach wants to
do to children with special needs?
The Taoiseach:
No, it is not, nor do we want to end
up in court case after court case as applied previously. I raised
those kinds of issues when I was in opposition. Deputies need to
understand that it is not a case of continuing to write cheque after cheque
for any sector.
Deputy Finian McGrath: Some €36 million was spent on providing
security for Queen Elizabeth.
Deputy Brendan Howlin:
Is the Deputy against that too?
Deputy Finian McGrath:
That €36 million was a waste.
The Taoiseach:
There is clearly a need for looking
at the way that services are provided for children in all the different
sectors. There will be 10,575 special needs assistants in the system
who will deliver a very valuable service and make a very valuable contribution
to the children's education. The posts that have been held back deliberately
by the Minister are to deal with priority cases that clearly should have
access and, therefore, will have access to special needs assistants.
In a general sense, we need to look at the way services are delivered through
our education system. The Minister has made the point that the population
projections require a certain number of schools to be built for second
level and primary level education and is making arrangements for that to
happen, unlike the construction of vast sprawling estates where consideration
was not given to the provision of any school, primary or secondary in the
area. As a result land prices went through the roof and it became
impossible to buy sites, which led to pressure groups advocating for transport
or about overcrowded building and the use of prefabs.
In regard to the cases raised
by Deputy McGrath, I will remind the Minister for Education and Skills
that he has received a number of cases and if they are worthy and deemed
to be a priority, as all children are a priority, no school will be without
contact with an SNA if it needs it and no child will be left without contact
with an SNA if he or she needs it. I share that view with all Deputies.
It is critical not only to get the children to a point where they
can develop their own potential at primary level, but that there will be
some process to make progress when they move from the primary to the second
level system. This is an area we will focus on, as this was not done
in the past. We do not want to go down the road of endless court
cases. Common sense must apply in all walks of life. An analysis
of the way we deliver these services is worthy of consideration, which
I am sure is being reflected in the Private Members' business.
Finian McGrath T.D. (IND)
(Dublin North Central)
