Special Educational Needs: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]
The following motion was moved by Deputy Charlie McConalogue on Tuesday, 25 June 2013:
That Dáil Éireann:
condemns:
— the deplorable announcement of cuts in special needs assistant supports and resource teacher hours for pupils with special educational needs; and
— the 12% cut in teaching time for special needs children to be implemented for the 2013-14 school year;
notes that:
— this reduction comes on top of a reduction of 5% in 2012 and 10% in 2011; and
— the reductions will mean that students will now get 25% fewer resource teacher hours than they would have received two years ago;
agrees that:
— such reductions are in direct contradiction to the Government’s approach of matching the expected increase in pupil numbers in mainstream classes this September with new teachers through the hiring of 450 additional mainstream teachers at primary and secondary level in order to maintain the standard pupil-teacher ratio;
— such reductions will have a severe impact on children with special needs;
— such cuts will also have an adverse impact on all children right across the mainstream school system;
— the cuts are also causing deep alarm and distress to the parents and teachers of these children;
— it is unfair and unreasonable to impose such cuts on children with the greatest need in the education system;
— the cuts undermine the principle of inclusive schools;
— the cuts weaken mainstreaming for children with disabilities and reinforce segregation; and
— the decision will negatively affect the national literacy and numeracy strategy; and
calls on the Government to:
— give students with special educational needs fair treatment by increasing the number of resource teachers and special needs assistants to match the expected increase in special needs students this September in the same way that the Department is increasing the number of mainstream teachers to meet demand;
— lift the cap on teaching resources to ensure every child eligible for resource teaching hours receives, at a minimum, the same allocation of hours as they were allocated in the current academic year;
— lift the cap on special needs assistants to ensure every special needs child with a need for a special needs assistant has a level of care appropriate to his/her needs;
— set a timeframe for the full implementation of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004;
— provide a proper and coordinated framework for the inclusion of all pupils in suitable education settings;
— affirm its commitment to inclusive education to enable all children to achieve their potential; and
— reverse the unjustified cuts announced by the Department of Education and Skills and the National Council for Special Education.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"notes:
— the absolute commitment of this Government, and the Minister for Education and Skills, to protecting Government spending on supporting children with special educational needs – an area which has been prioritised above all other areas by this Government, despite the enormous pressures on all areas of public spending;
— that this Government has maintained the €1.3 billion annual funding for additional teaching resources and special needs assistants, SNAs, to support children with special educational needs, at a time when there is a requirement to make expenditure savings across a range of areas;
— that provision for SNA support for the coming school year will remain at 10,575 posts, which is unchanged since the introduction of a cap on the number of SNA posts by Fianna Fáil in 2010;
— that all children who qualify for SNA support will receive access to such support and all children who qualify for resource teaching will receive support at current levels;
— that the demand for resource teaching hours has risen by an unprecedented 12 per cent over the last year, while student numbers have grown by only 1.3%;
— that our response to this demand cannot simply be to continue increasing spending in an unsustainable manner – an approach previously adopted by Fianna Fáil-led governments;
— that it is has become apparent that significant inequity exists within the current system of resource teacher allocations, and that the model for allocating these resources is deeply flawed;
— that some children, particularly those in disadvantaged communities, are being further disadvantaged by the flaws in the current model;
— that the Government welcomes the publication of the recent policy advice provided by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, on supporting students with special educational needs in schools;
— that the Minister for Education and Skills has, as suggested by that advice, requested the NCSE to establish a working group to develop a proposal, for consideration, for a "tailored" allocation model, which would underpin a new allocation system for teaching supports for children with special educational needs based on the profiled educational needs of children in schools;
— that Mr. Eamon Stack, Chairman of the NCSE and former Chief Inspector in the Department of Education and Skills, has been appointed chairperson of that group, with a mandate to report to the Minister for Education and Skills, by the end of September, with preliminary views on how the allocation system may be reformed;
— that, pending the receipt of that report, the Minister for Education and Skills has decided that the 500 posts which have been held in reserve for late applications will be used immediately to ensure that individual allocations will be preserved at 2012/13 levels while the transition to a new model of allocating resources is under way; and
— that this Government is resolute in its determination to resolve the economic woes created by successive Fianna Fáil led Governments and will continue to invest in building fairness and quality into our education system."
-(Minister for Educations and Skills)
I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this Private Members’ motion on special needs pupils and the urgent need for proper services and resource hours for our children. I speak as both a legislator and a parent of a daughter with an intellectual disability. I spent over 20 years fighting for the rights and resources of all of our children, in particular those with intellectual disabilities. I welcome the change of heart by the Minister for Education and Skills and commend the parents and friends of all children with special needs for their efforts and campaigning over the past few days which led to the change of heart over the resource hours issue.
Several months ago I, along with my Independent colleagues, brought forward a motion on this matter which highlighted the need for careful planning of services. Our children are citizens of this State. If we were a real republic, we would not have to fight regular battles to get decent services. It is a civil rights, civil liberties and equality issue. It is also about inclusion and respect for all our citizens. Either one believes in equality and respect or one does not. There is no halfway house. I am calling on the Minister to ensure students with special educational needs get fair treatment by increasing the number of resource teachers and special needs assistants, SNAs. Will he also lift the cap on teaching resources to ensure that every child eligible for resource-teaching hours receives at a minimum the same allocation of hours they got this year?
This motion is relevant. Today, we met parents of many young adults with an intellectual disability who are lacking other services. We need to keep this issue on the agenda but, above all, we need proper plans for services for all people with disabilities to be implemented and funded every year.
I, along with those workers involved in providing resource services for children and disability groups, welcome the U-turn by the Government and the Minister. The point, however, is that these cuts to resource-teaching hours to children with special needs should never have been contemplated, let alone announced.
This measure would have meant a 25% cut in support hours for children with special needs over the past three years. These cuts were started by Fianna Fáil and continued on by the present Government with a Labour Minister. It is still the case that a 15% cut has already taken place. There is also the crucial issue of SNAs and those who physically support children with more severe disabilities, the number of which has been capped at last year’s levels. The Minister claims there has been no increase in demand but the National Council for Special Education claims numbers rose by 2,000 last year.
The 2013 OECD report, Education at a Glance, stated there was a fall in the proportion of public expenditure in education from 13.7% in 2000 to 9.7% in 2010. Ireland is now 29 of 32 OECD countries when it comes to education spend. The cut in funding has affected school budgets, pupil-teacher ratios and special needs supports. I know of a family in my area who has been informed by Stewarts School in Palmerstown that there has been a cut in adult day services which will affect their daughter. Funds for the housing adaptation grant have been cut by 40% from €54 million to €34 million. Right across the board people with disabilities are being hit with cuts to respite care allowance, special needs assistants, as well as questions asked about eligibility for disability allowance. The Minister stated the €20 million required for an extra 500 teaching posts will come from existing budgets. Most likely, it will mean yet another increase in pupil-teacher ratio. This is robbing Peter to pay Paul but Peter and Paul are the young and the vulnerable.
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Private Members’ motion and the Minister’s U-turn on teaching supports for students with special needs. For me, this U-turn means people power works. This is the second occasion with this Minister where people power has worked, the first being his U-turn on DEIS schools. Word has gone out among the public that it can defeat this Government.
These cuts should never have been announced. I find it astounding that a Labour Minister would attempt to introduce these cuts. There was no need for these cuts as there is no financial pressure on the Government. Over the past several weeks, we have been hearing in the media and in the Dáil that the Minister for Finance has an extra €1 billion to play around with in the coming budget. There is absolutely no need for these cuts.
It is important to remember some cuts never heal, such as those targeted at the most vulnerable, namely students with special needs. The Minister has not gone far enough in his U-turn. He needs to lift immediately the cap on SNAs originally put in place by Fianna Fáil.
While the U-turn announced yesterday by the Minister for Education and Skills is welcome, the case remains that children across the country face serious cuts to SNA supports from September. The Minister was at pains to stress last night that there have been no cuts and no child who requires access to SNA support will be deprived of it. The word “access” was carefully chosen. If three children share a SNA, it is technically correct to say they all have access but this does not mean these children’s needs are being fully catered for. Resources should be allocated to children on the basis of need. Giving a child access to a SNA is not the same as giving that child all the support he or she needs to achieve their full potential.
When we discussed this issue with the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, last week, I raised the case of Scoil Mhuire in Wexford which has just lost 2.5 SNAs although two new children with special needs are due to start there in September. Several weeks ago before the cuts were announced, a child who shares a SNA managed to get out of the SNA's care and left the school on his own, crossing main roads. His parents do not blame the school or staff but feel the lack of resources is what created this dangerous situation. Now the school has lost 2.5 SNAs, the chances of a similar incident occurring have seriously increased. Both parents and staff are really concerned.
Parents have told me that each class in the ASD, autistic spectrum disorder, unit in Scoil Mhuire has a weekly social outing which allows for the children to experience and learn of the world with their SNA support. Some of the children also attend social outings with mainstream classes but again require a SNA to accompany them to keep them safe. Further cuts to SNAs will mean these social outings will no longer be possible and the children will be effectively segregated within the confines of the unit.
Earlier I met three teachers at the gates outside who had worked for 11 years at Hartstown who have just lost their jobs. These cuts are costing jobs too which does not make sense.
I have been debating with myself whether I would welcome the Minister’s U-turn or not as it is one of many that should have taken place in how children with special needs are being treated in our education and health systems and across society. While it is welcome the Minister has undone the cut which should never have been considered in the first place, he needs to do more. Children with special needs should not have to struggle within the school system to get the resources they require.
Their parents should not have to spend their lives struggling. They have a difficult time making sure that their children can have the best and achieve the best in their lives without having to fight the State every step along the way to make sure that it lives up to its responsibilities and helps those families and children to achieve the best they can through their lives. This political system forces them to do that, but it needs to change. It needs to recognise all the citizens of the country and treat them all equally and provide them with the services they require to lead their lives.
The Minister needs to recognise children with Down's syndrome and provide services for them in terms of special education needs. He needs to talk to his colleague, the Minister for Health, to ensure that the special needs preschools across the country are protected and maintained. He needs to reverse the decision to close St. Agnes's special needs preschool in Donegal town and ensure it stays open and is available to children. His Department and a body under it stipulate that such preschool provision must be in place alongside mainstream preschools. He has to protect and ensure that the Ballaghderg special needs preschool in Letterkenny will continue to be in place after 2015. It is only then that we will be able to recognise what the Minister has done and acknowledge and welcome his actions in regard to children with special needs across the country.
I call Deputy Feighan who is sharing his time with Deputies O'Donovan, Dowds, Maloney, Jim Daly and Buttimer.
I am pleased to speak on this motion. One day last week my phone began to ring and it rang all evening. The calls I received were from a number of concerned parents. I tried to deal with the parents who I am not saying were misled but they were angry at the news that they had heard that there was to be a reduction in the number of special needs assistant posts. I repeat and confirm that there will be no reduction in the number of those posts which are available for allocation to schools. I can understand why those parents were angry. They want to ensure their loved ones get the best education and best attention possible in school and they felt their children's needs were being undermined. I thank the parents for expressing their views. They were very concerned but I appreciate when parents can articulate their views in a measured and mild way. As a Government Deputy, I appreciate when people contact me by phone in a measured and mild mannered way and even though they may be angry, one can reason with them. That has not always been the case in my experience as a Government backbench Deputy during the past two years. Those in opposition have a role to oppose but they also have a role to put clear and concise information into the public domain and sometimes they engage in opposition for the sake of opposition. It does not matter to them if the truth gets lost in a good story but what matters to me is that we deliver a safe and a fair system to everybody.
I thank the Minister for reviewing the proposal in respect of resource teachers. I am not saying we always get it right but on this occasion the Minister listened to the concerns and views of the parents and teachers. Most importantly he addressed the needs of students, and he listened to his backbench Deputies and the people on the ground. I thank him for doing that.
Parents were frightened by reports of cuts, but I do not believe that their children will be denied access to SNAs. These are difficult times and circumstances and the Minister has a difficult job to do. It behoves all politicians to speak in measured terms, to put forward the facts and not to create hysteria. The fight is never about what it is claimed to be about. I intend to work with those parents who were concerned. I am glad that I have worked on their behalf and I will continue to work on their behalf not only on the issue of special needs assistants and resource teachers but on many issues. As the only Government Deputy in my constituency, I can do something about it and that is what I intend to do.
When the announcement of the reallocation of resource teacher hours was made the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party had a meeting of its education committee on Thursday morning and another meeting since the start of this week with the Minister for Education and Skills and officials from his office. I found it very productive. As the previous speaker said, many calls about this issue were made to Deputies' offices, especially the offices of Government Deputies. I welcome the establishment of a review, to which the Minister gave a commitment in the Dáil last night, under the chairmanship of Eamon Stack because, for the first time in a 20 year period, it will provide an opportunity to examine the delivery of resources for children with special educational needs, particularly at primary and secondary level.
It may well transpire that the current model is the best one but, having been a teacher and having spoken to teachers about this in the past few days, I have doubts the current model is anything but perfect. I spoke to a teacher today and she asked me if I was speaking on this motion tonight to make one point in the Dáil on this issue, namely, that the hours and resources that are being allocated in terms of special educational needs are not the property of schools, the Department, boards of management or anybody other than the children for whom they are allocated. There has been a temptation to forget that having regard to the way this issue has been discussed in the past few years.
I welcome also the commitment to establish a panel for the redeployment of special needs assistants. This is long overdue. The previous Government missed an opportunity to do something about this. There is an opportunity also to provide pathways for progression, training and upskilling for special needs assistants in schools and they would welcome that opportunity. Apart from providing certainty in terms of employment, and many previous speakers referred to these jobs, this provision will give them an opportunity ultimately to provide the best level of assistance that they can for children with special educational needs, which is the core of what we are discussing.
The current system of allocating hours, the general allocation model, is not perfect. Every speaker last night and tonight has said that. I have an issue regarding the allocation of hours and I have tabled a question on this to the Minister for Education and Skills which I hope will be answered next week.
Regarding the assessment of children through the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, parents who can afford to get private psychological assessments carried out for their children are at an advantage in terms of the allocation of those hours. The parents of children from more socially deprived and disadvantaged areas do not have such access to cash and as a result their children have to wait until they are called for an assessment with NEPS. When special educational needs organisers allocate hours, he or she allocates them based on the assessments that are handed in. It will be interesting to see what results I get from back from the Department of Education and Skills next week. Anecdotally teachers have told me that the children of parents who have the financial wherewithal to have the assessments carried out have an advantage, and that is something that badly needs to be addressed. I have said previously and I say it again now that unless we have a level playing field where the €1.3 billion that is being allocated, which is €200 million more than the entire budget of the Higher Education Authority, is provided for those children with the greatest need, regardless of their socio-economic background or of their parents' ability to be able to have private psychological assessments carried out, we have a problem.
Another issue I raised directly with the Minister this morning and I raise it again now is that any change in the allocation of a model needs to be issued by way of a pilot scheme. It is a waste of time unless we can get parental, teacher, management and, most importantly, child buy-in into this. A young male teacher, who qualified with me in Mary Immaculate College, who was aware I intended to speak on this motion telephoned me to ask that I put on the record of the Dáil that while it is not appropriate for a teacher to drive a child home from school on his own, the child having soiled himself or for some other reason, it is appropriate for him as a young male teacher to be in a classroom on his own as a resource teacher with a child on his or her own. Parents and teachers have legitimate concerns about the exact roll-out and the exact implementation of this scheme and they need to be listened to. We need to approach this review with no holes barred.
We have a block of money on the table and 500 additional teachers but at the end of the day one consideration needs to be borne in mind, namely, what is best for the children. The resources are not owned by the Department, by politicians or by teachers; they are owned by the children.
I have little need to speak further given I agree with everything the previous speaker said. Like far too many of us in this House, Deputy O'Donovan comes from a teaching background. He raised a serious issue and I entirely agree with him.
I support the Government amendment. It is a major achievement that it has managed to ring-fence €1.3 billion for resource teaching hours and special needs assistants. Several years ago the only person employed in a classroom was the teacher but enormous changes have taken place since then. Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Governments spent a considerable amount in this area but they threw money at the problem like confetti rather than trying to ascertain how resources could best be allocated. The result is a system that is dysfunctional in many respects. Demand for resource teaching hours has increased by 12% compared to an increase of 1% in the number of students. That sort of ratio is not sustainable and the question arises of whether all this increased demand is valid. As Deputy O'Donovan noted, there is evidence to suggest that resources are being acquired more effectively by schools in middle class and well-to-do areas. This is clearly wrong because demands would naturally move in the opposite direction.
I speak as somebody who recognises the important work done by resource teachers and SNAs. Prior to my election to the Dáil, I worked in a school for physically disabled children. The SNAs in that school worked much harder than the average SNA because not only did they have to assist in the classroom, they also had to feed children who could not feed themselves. It was at times a fraught job because some of these children were so disabled that they were in danger of choking on their food. I acknowledge the important work that SNAs do but in many cases resources are spread too thinly.
I welcome the attitude of the Minister for Education and Skills towards this debate. He wants to target resources at special needs, whether through assistance with mathematics or other areas. It is right that the National Council for Special Education is trying to come up with a fair model for resource allocation. I welcome that the Minister has put the former chief inspector, Eamon Stack, in charge of this task. I hope that the council's work will bear fruit because, while the Minister has jumped into the breach to meet demand, he will face financial problems in the future. It is important to conduct a root and branch examination of what is required to achieve better value for the resources invested so that they are targeted at those who need them the most.
The majority of our debates are overshadowed by our financial predicament. The country was driven to bankruptcy and we have been bailed out by our near and generous neighbours. Certain people have been recorded on tape mocking other European countries but I want to be disassociated with such attitudes. We will work our way out of our current difficulties but while we as a country are unable to pay our way, we should be grateful to others when they give us a leg up. We are not living in normal times, whether in respect of education, health or any other area, and we have to change our systems.
I acknowledge the capacity of the Minister for Education and Skills for listening. I welcome that he was open to changing his original proposal of a 10% reduction in hours. He is a reforming Minister, although perhaps not as reforming as I would wish, and I recognise progress when progress is made.
We do not have equality in education in Ireland, whether at primary, secondary or tertiary level. Even in the area of special needs we should strive for fairness in how we invest resources. A child may be from a family which can access the financial resources to have him or her speedily diagnosed and included in the special needs category. Children should be put into the special needs category based on merit rather than because they happen to have the financial wherewithal. It is especially disheartening to those of us who represent strongly working class constituencies that parents who lack those financial resources have to wait for so long before their children are diagnosed.
I join other speakers in welcoming the review of the special needs assistants that is to be conducted under the chairmanship of Mr. Stack. I hope the outcome of that review will be the provision of resources to the children who need them the most. I congratulate the Department of Education Skills and the Minister for moving in that direction.
Fáiltím roimh an deis labhartha ar an ábhar tábhachtach seo. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important motion. I want to be clear and unambiguous from the outset about where I stand on this issue. The provision of resources to children with special learning needs is an absolute top priority for me, politically and personally. I placed that level of priority on this matter in my former professional role as a teacher and I continue to do so now. That is on the record from many previous debates on educational matters in the House and at the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection. At every opportunity, particularly in the presence of the Minister for Education and Skills, I have emphasised that my priority is to protect and ring-fence the funding of special educational needs resources. That remains the position, despite the many reductions this Government has been forced to impose and the many difficult decisions it has had to make. A budget of €1.3 billion is continuing to be protected so that the most essential resources can be provided to children with special learning needs. Politics is about choices that are never easy and often difficult. It is a matter of record that I have supported some politically difficult choices in the education sector, such as the decision to increase the pupil-teacher ratio in small rural schools. I stand over the choice that was made by the Government in that case. I do not think it is fair or right that a school with 14 students can have two teachers, or a ratio of 1:7, while a teacher in another school down the road struggles to teach 34 students. Despite coming under a great deal of political pressure, I wholeheartedly supported the Government when it imposed that measure. That is an example of the difficult choices we have to make.
A number of issues have been highlighted over the past week since this issue came to the fore. The usual politicisation of the issue obviously took place because it is an easy issue to be political about. The media likes and is interested in this issue because it involves emotion. Given that we are talking about children with various difficulties, it is perfectly understandable that this is a highly emotive topic. Every parent wants the absolute best for his or her child, regardless of the nature of the challenges being faced by the child. Over the past week, we have witnessed the anger and anxiety of parents who were already stressed out from struggling with the challenges of rearing their children and doing their best for them. That has not been helpful. It has become clear over the past week that we have to look at the allocation model, to which some of the previous speakers referred. We are spending €1.3 billion on the allocation of resources to children with special learning needs. That is more than we are spending on the entire third level sector, including our universities. We have to ensure we are getting the best value from that expenditure. We have to ensure the children who are looking for and availing of these resources get the fairest and best value from the money we are spending. It has been difficult for parents and teachers to listen to debates about possible reductions in the provision of special needs resources in the same week that the Anglo Irish Bank tapes were published. This insight into the horrible times of 2008 has reminded us of what went on and where this country's priorities rested at that time.
We need to address the causes of this crisis rather than the symptoms of it. It is neither realistic nor practical to pump further hundreds of millions into the system. Such a solution cannot take hold. I question the effectiveness of the current assessment model. I look forward to the challenging and difficult new allocation model that is necessary. The model, which will be based on children's needs, has already been instigated by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. I have to query why the spike in demand for resources of 12% was not recognised and addressed sooner. As I have already mentioned to the Minister, I think there is spare capacity in the general allocation model for moderate learning needs. We have to prioritise children with severe learning needs. Under the general allocation model, children who receive a one-on-one service from resource teachers could be placed in groups of two or three with one teacher. This could double or triple the number of resource hours available to them. We have to consider that possibility. When I worked as a teacher, I spent a great deal of time working with parents to try to secure resources. I understand the frustration and difficulty experienced by people as they try to get those resources. We have a challenge in this regard. I have made contact with the teaching body and I am meeting representatives of it next week because we have to review the allocation model, which was set and designed 20 years ago. I believe it is not fit for purpose today. We have to move with the times and bring it up to speed so we can ensure every child gets the resources he or she is due.
It is extraordinary that this motion has been brought before the House by a party that spent 14 years in government. Today, representatives of that party had the audacity to meet the parents of special needs children outside this House to feign a sharing of their indignation and concern. I remind Deputies that the result of its 14 years in at the helm was €64 billion being put into our banks. That money could be spent in this and other areas today. The former Minister, Deputy Martin, promised an end to Punch and Judy politics when he became the leader of Fianna Fáil. Instead, Deputy McConalogue walked to the plinth to give a mock speech before walking back in here again tonight.
As a schoolteacher and as someone who has been involved with the COPE Foundation in Cork for most of my life, I accept that no parent and no child should be put at risk in our education system. That is why the Minister, Deputy Quinn, listened to members of the Government parties this week, as he does all the time. That is why the Government has ring-fenced €1.3 billion from the overall the budgetary allocation for the provision of special needs education. That is why this Government has preserved over 10,500 special needs posts since 2011. We have not touched them, unlike the parties opposite, which cut them when they were in government.
It is difficult to manage these matters in these contrary times. As Deputies Jim Daly and Patrick O'Donovan suggested, we must make a different measurement, in the interests of reform, when we are spending what is afforded to us under the general allocation model. That is why it is important that Mr. Stack is left to do his work. Reform is needed. It is one thing to have 2014 sorted, but we must look to the future. We must never again allow parents, teachers and children to be worried and concerned because the airwaves have become engulfed with hysteria and fear. Some of it is genuine but more of it is ill-founded.
As legislators, our job is to protect the most vulnerable and to give them a service. We are doing that. We need to be smarter and more intelligent in how we do that. This Government has made mistakes. Unlike our predecessors, we recognise when we make mistakes and make amends by moving back. That is what the Minister for Education and Skills has done today. That is why it is important for us to learn from this debate. We should not go up on the plinth with a flag and a panacea for everything. I will conclude by reiterating that I welcome the Minister's decision. I hope we will not be back here again in the future.
I also welcome the opportunity to speak briefly on this matter. At this juncture, the most important thing we can do is reassure the parents of children with special educational needs that the Government cares about those children and is providing for them. In fact, the special educational supports their children have been receiving and may receive in the future are there for them and will be there for them. We know that all hell broke loose after last week's announcement by the National Council for Special Education that there would be a cut. It is unfortunate that the whole issue grew all sorts of horns at that stage - it became a political football - because we are dealing with vulnerable children who need the support of this State and its system and we are also dealing with vulnerable parents.
All parents want the best outcomes for their children. They want their children to grow and to flourish. They cherish their children. When they hear about things like this, it strikes fear into them. Some reassurance can be given, as previous speakers have outlined. At a time when many budgets are being cut, the reality is that €1.3 billion has been ring-fenced to make sure services for children in these situations are not touched, as far as possible. We know there has been a spike of 12% in need, which is no mean feat considering the student population will increase by just 1.3% this year. The Minister has responded to that by providing for 500 extra places.
We know the Minister has given a reassurance that children who need special needs assistants will have them and will continue to have them, and that no policy change is required to stay within this cap.
I commend the Minister. The biggest problem is the budget. We know that ring-fencing it is not enough. We know there is a problem with money and that this money will have to be found elsewhere. Ultimately, however, we have to make priority decisions. As an ideal we must continue to strive for, we must protect vulnerable children and, in this instance, the children who need the support of the State to ensure a better future for them and for our country.
I wish to share time with Deputies Timmy Dooley, Michael Healy-Rae and Brendan Smith.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I was shocked at the announcement of the cuts to special education and while the Minister, Deputy Quinn, has reversed some of them, I call on him and on the Government to fully reverse the cutbacks. The Minister realised a mistake had been made but he did not remove the cap on the SNA posts, which is a most important issue to be addressed. I appeal to the Minister to reverse the SNA cuts.
I was struck by the number of letters I received from parents of children with disabilities, particularly from parents of children with Down's syndrome. They made the point that their children should be recognised in their entirety and in their own right by the Department of Education and Skills. Many families in County Galway contacted me to say their children should have access to the maximum allocation of resource hours. These are families who believe there is inequality and discrimination in the current system, which requires children with Down's syndrome to have a second disability to access vital resource hours. This should be changed immediately.
The figure I saw given as the number of children who need SNAs is of the order of 22,000. However, they will see a reduction in the support they should be getting when the schools resume in September as the increased number of pupils in our schools next year will have to make do with the same number of SNAs. This should not happen to children with special needs. If the Minister changes the pupil-teacher ratio to provide the resources for special needs, which has been mentioned, it would be a case of taking with one hand and giving with the other. We all know the great difficulties that have arisen, particularly in rural Ireland, with the changes in the pupil-teacher ratio up to now.
I welcome the fact an extra 500 resource teaching posts were announced by the Minister. I understand this will cost €20 million, which has to come from the existing education budget, but I have not heard yet what changes will be made to deal with that. There is a campaign that has to be fought, and it is going on even today outside the Dáil. I was a member of the INTO during my teaching days. I note the INTO has called a review of the current system and it obviously wants to reduce the waiting times for children who need extra help. The INTO responded to the National Council for Special Education review of special education, making the point that the report should be a wake-up call for parents of special needs children and advocacy groups. Bureaucracy should not become the barrier to children getting resources and there should not be additional paperwork for class teachers struggling with large classes, which is the case at present, as many young teachers have told me.
There is another issue, particularly in rural areas, where resource teachers are travelling between schools. With the cap on teachers and the increase in the number of pupils from 20,000 to 22,000, there will be more travelling involved for resource teachers. The INTO has also strongly criticised the large cuts in resources for special needs children. The union has accused the Department of Education and Skills and the National Council for Special Education of attempting to hide the extent of the cutbacks from parents. If we want to have inclusive schools, we have to provide resources to integrate the special needs children.
While on the subject of primary education, I note the Irish Primary Principals Network is also committed to the principle of inclusion. It has highlighted the chronic shortage of resources in primary education, particularly with the cap on SNAs. There is also the clustering of schools, which is causing the increased sharing of resources and staff travelling when they should be in the schools.
Concerns were also raised by the Joint Managerial Body and the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland. The ASTI made a very good point in regard to the consequences for students with special educational needs in an area where, for example, there is a primary school with a special class but there is not a special class in a corresponding post-primary school. I hope these points will be taken up by the Minister and that we will have a full reversal of the education cuts.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. It is quite remarkable that, since the Government came to power, there have been more Private Members' debates in the House about the area of education than any other Department area. I stand to be corrected on that but, from my recollection, it has been an ongoing battle.
This is amazing when the Government has placed so much stock in the desire to get people back to work. In much of the verbiage that goes on around those statements, we hear on an ongoing basis of the importance of education and we hear of the importance of cherishing all children of the State equally. Yet again, however, the Government has shown its blatant disregard and its lack of understanding for the needs of vulnerable children in society and, in particular, those with special needs. It is beyond me how the Minister for Education and Skills could come into the House last week and, with a serious face, try to tell us that a cut was not a cut, that somehow the same top level budget should remain in place and that some agency should be tasked with making loaves and fishes of the allocation, while somehow believing this would be acceptable to the people and that it would represent Labour's core values and principles.
At least the Labour Party chairman, whatever the Minister of State might think of him, had the good grace today to take it upon himself to hand back that seal of office and resign from the Labour Party. At least he is committed to the core principles. They should not just be the core principles of the Labour Party, however, they should be the core principles of any Government that comes to rule this country - to have as its absolute basis a desire to ensure that children get an appropriate and adequate education and, most particularly, children who have special needs and who need that extra support.
When the Minister tried to explain this to us, my colleague, Deputy Charlie McConalogue, made it very clear that if this was associated with pensioners and there was, for example, an increase in the cohort of pensioners and the same top level budget was retained, we know what would happen, namely, everybody would have to take a cut in their weekly payment. Would that not have been considered a cut by this Government? The communications on this issue were appalling.
This motion was tabled because the parents of the children concerned fought tooth and nail over the past couple of days. I salute them, I congratulate them and I say "Job well done". We then had a run of backbenchers from the Labour Party tripping themselves up running out of Government Buildings. They ran across the glass corridor so that it nearly collapsed once the announcement was made, and they ran out into the beaming sunshine to tell the people that they believed in them once more and they believed that children needed to be educated. It took them a long time to figure out this was what was required. Were it not for people power, were it not for the parents of those children, those cuts would not have been reversed.
To try to grab victory from the jaws of defeat will be seen as nothing other than cynical. If this Government is good at anything, it is certainly good at the spin machine. However, I believe it has been caught out on this one. It is very clear the Government did not have at its core the desire to protect the needs of children who have that special requirement.
The cohort of children who need SNAs has increased by 10% and the Government does not propose to increase the number of people who will participate to assist those children. This will create an intolerable burden not just on the teaching staff, but on the other children in the mainstream classes. Whether the Government thinks that is an acceptable model of education, I do not believe the people do so. This is part of a long line. We had it with the Minister in advance of the last election - buying that election, from his perspective.
He won votes on the back of it. The minute he came into office he ignored the pledge and increased the registration fee.
The SUSI debacle, the methodology of distributing the grants to third-level students, is an unmitigated disaster. Today there are students who have finished their exams and still have not received their grant payments. They are still pending because there is a disagreement between SUSI and the Department of Education and Skills over how they define the estrangement of children from the family structure. Can somebody at ministerial level make a call on this and resolve the matter immediately?
We then had the cuts to guidance councillors. That was the most cynical of all because it targeted support for the most vulnerable children in our society. There is no proposal to reverse that because those children come, in the main, from dysfunctional backgrounds. In many cases their parents do not care. They are not organised to the same extent as the parents of the children who required the education provision the Government has reversed. That is the most appalling thing. People power managed to get the Minister to reverse this appalling cut, but because there is no people power behind the children who need guidance councillors the Minister turned a blind eye.
The Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, knows there has been an increase in the number of students who have committed suicide in the past 12 months. I am not going to try to make a political point and say that is entirely as a result of the cuts to the guidance councillors the Government perpetrated on the student population, but it is a contributing factor. The Minister for Education and Skills should be ashamed for not recognising that and reversing that cut. He does not recognise the impact it has on children from very difficult backgrounds. They come from dysfunctional homes and they need support and assistance, but they are not getting it. It is highly unlikely, based on the rubbish we have heard from the Government over the last number of days, that they will have any chance in the future to have that addressed.
I thank Fianna Fáil for allowing me some of its speaking time on this extremely important Private Members' motion, because nothing is more important than the children of our State, particularly children with special needs. Our children are citizens of the State, to be held in equal respect. What the Minister proposed in recent weeks - 12% cuts to special needs resources - was a disgrace. It would have meant that pupils had an hour and a quarter less resource teaching per week than was the case before 2011, with a 25% cut for children with autism.
I am not going to fawn over the Minister's U-turn because, as Deputy Dooley rightly pointed out, it happened because of people power, including that of parents who came here this evening. The Minister for Education and Skills knew they were coming and he knew this Private Members' motion was coming before the House. I thank each and every person who travelled from all over the country. As the Minister of State knows, it is not easy for people who have children with special needs to leave their homes - many brought their children with them - and come here to wage their protest on Kildare Street and let the Government know how hard it is for those people to survive and struggle. When they see further cuts to special needs provision at budget time it is no wonder they are angry.
I met a single mother outside this evening and she is going into hospital tonight after protesting here because of the stress and the effect all of this pressure is having on her health. Her child's grandparents will mind the child for the next few days. That woman was in bits. I listened to every word she told me. I thanked her for coming and telling me her story. I told her I would say in the House tonight that there are people who are under tremendous physical and mental pressure. The Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, has special responsibility for mental health. I have said it before: these cuts are too near to the bone.
There must be a lifting of the cap on special needs assistants, SNAs. The number of SNAs provided must be increased. There can be no question about it. Whatever else will be cut, and wherever the money will come from, these are sacrosanct and must be enshrined. The parents of children with special needs must be safe and happy in the knowledge that the services they have will not be further cut, and that where the services are inadequate they will be enhanced to ensure their children have the same rights and benefits as children who do not have special needs. They must know that those children will be nurtured and will be given everything they need to bring them to their maximum potential. That is of vital importance.
Deputy Dooley raised a very important issue which has been brought to my attention in the past. I have had meetings in my constituency with guidance teachers who told me they were in no doubt that their interventions in their roles as guidance counsellors had saved young people who had had suicidal thoughts and were in a very dark place. They had the training and the time to catch a student who was in such a vulnerable situation. Now that is being taken away from them with the cuts to guidance teachers. Deputy Dooley was correct when he said it was a disgraceful cut. I am not being alarmist or saying anything out of order when I say that this cut is extremely dangerous. I have said this before in the House. It is leaving students who are vulnerable without someone who they feel is available and who has the time to give to them.
The Ceann Comhairle has a good memory and may remember my attempt to raise the following issue with the Taoiseach. I will raise it now because it ties in with this Private Members' motion. In Killarney town there is an excellent family support service offering after-school activities to children with special needs called Home from Home. I have visited the home on numerous occasions and I have friends who benefit from it. The children need a one-on-one service. This vital service has not received the recognition of adequate structured funding which it so deserves. The service has survived only because of the good will of the public and fund-raising. The Taoiseach was very generous in a personal capacity to the home and I thank and applaud him for that, but where does the service go from there? People have grown to rely on that service, and then they see no structured funding. One cannot keep fund-raising all the time because one is going back to the same people over and over again and people do not have enough money to be generous to that level. A service such as Home from Home requires a lot of money and it is extremely difficult to raise it.
I am coming back to equality and respect. Here is one thing the people outside tonight expressed to me, and every person is of the same opinion. We have heard the disgraceful, disgusting and despicable talk that went on between bankers who were laughing at the fact that billions of euro were being lost each day.
When I and these parents think of how they are managing and struggling to survive and yet these people are still out there, it is criminal. The Criminal Assets Bureau should have been brought in and those people should be stripped of their personal assets. To be quite honest, they should be in jail for what they did because it was treason of the utmost; it was a disgrace. They have marred this country forever. They have placed a burden of debt on us, on our children and on our grandchildren. Look at the effect it is having on people who have special needs and special disabilities. Is it any wonder those highly respectable parents who were outside the gates of Leinster House tonight - I thank them again for coming here - are angry when they turn on their radio in the morning and hear what these disgraceful people were saying and the way they were laughing and mocking? They will never be forgiven for it and they will never be forgotten for it.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to make a short contribution on this important Private Members' motion tabled by our party spokesperson, Deputy McConalogue. The motion has two particular elements, namely, the adequacy of resource teacher provision and the need for adequate provision of special needs assistants for students who need such vital ongoing support. This Fianna Fáil motion was tabled last Friday by our party spokesperson, Deputy Charlie McConalogue, and I welcome the Minister's announcement yesterday that he will reverse his decision on the employment of resource teachers which is the first action our motion requested. The Minister has decided to release 500 additional teaching posts to schools in September to cater for the increase in demand for such resources. As a result, in September, students will not see the cut in the resource teaching hours they received during the 2012-13 school year. This is a justified and necessary decision. We should not have to be here tonight discussing this issue because the cuts should not have been made in the first place. As previous speakers mentioned, last Thursday in the House the Tánaiste spoke about there being no cut, and the Minister's decision yesterday clearly shows the fallacy of that statement by the Tánaiste. I do not know how one can reverse a cut if it had not been announced in the first place.
The decision to reverse the 12% cut to resource hours is welcome and our party spokesperson welcomed that decision by the Minister. Unfortunately, the 10% cut to special needs assistants remains in place. Once again, children with special needs will bear the brunt of this wrong decision by the Minister and the Government. All of us as Oireachtas Members and other public representatives such as members of local authorities have received correspondence from parents, teachers, principals of schools and other interested stakeholders who have outlined their utter dismay at the NCSE decision announced on behalf of the Minister a week ago. We learned that the decision to make the announcement was deferred for a number of weeks at the request of the Department.
Like many other Members of the Oireachtas, last week I received calls from parents, teachers and school principals expressing utter desperation when the NCSE decision was announced. People took part in local radio programmes and contacted the local print media. These people would not normally go next or near the media but they wanted to express their concerns and the effects of such decisions on young children.
Next September, 22,000 children who need special needs assistance will, unfortunately, face a reduction in the particular support available to them. There is a well-justified reason to reverse this cut to ensure no child with special needs suffers a reduction in the support he or she needs in the classroom throughout the school year.
In the past 14 to 15 years there has been a marked and much-needed improvement in support for children with special needs. The provision of resource teaching hours and the appointment of special needs assistants for children has improved dramatically the educational attainment of children needing special support. Our party leader, Deputy Micheál Martin, when Minister with responsibility for education from 1997 onwards, made the decision to put those supports in place in classrooms for the children who needed that extra learning support or assistance. We all know of children who may attend special classes for one or two days of the week but who are in mainstream schools for the remainder of the week. The educational attainment for those children has been much improved by those additional supports, whether in the special class or in the mainstream classroom. That additional support must not be denied to them by Government policy.
I will refer briefly to the policy advice paper published last month by the National Council for Special Education. I welcome the fact that a working group has been established to report next September. I welcome the fact that Eamon Stack, a former príomh cigire of An Roinn Oideachais agus Scileanna, was appointed to chair the NCSE and also to chair the working group. I know him over many years and I found him to be a particularly progressive and practical official. He worked alongside very good officials in the Department who have the best interests of the children at heart in their ongoing work. I know this is also the case for the senior officials in the special education division of the Department.
It is important that the Government acts on the report's findings on the issue of some schools being reluctant to enrol children with special needs or the problems that arise from some schools discouraging parents from enrolling their children. My party is clear in its view that this is not acceptable and this must also be the view of the Oireachtas.
The NCSE's call for a robust regulatory framework is welcome and the major and much-needed annual investment of €1.3 billion in special needs education must provide the best possible outcomes for children. It is essential to optimise that investment. Whatever model is implemented in any public administration or in the delivery of any services, it needs to be reviewed every six or seven years, for example, because new systems and new ways of doing business arise. It is important that the model of delivery is regularly reviewed, and if new or better systems are available, the better model should be adopted. Equally, there must be a fair distribution of resource teaching hours regardless of where a child lives. Deputy Eamonn Maloney said in his contribution that in some areas children may not get the assessment to ensure they are given the extra support. That is not acceptable either. If a child needs support, it must be provided, whether the child lives in an affluent area or a disadvantaged area. The child's needs remain the same and the child's needs must be addressed.
It is important to recognise that the review found that students with special educational needs are being well supported in schools and those children are making good progress. We must recognise the progress that has been achieved but we will not make further progress by standing still. We need to continue to invest in and to review the models of service when necessary. These particular educational supports have been built up over the past 14 to 15 years and now is an opportune time to review the system of assessment and the system of allocation, whether on a school or on an individual basis. The working group should take on this work.
The importance of this area is evident from the response of many stakeholders. It is important that all such stakeholders would have an input into the implementation of the plan. Let us hear from the learners and also from the parents and not just from the unions or the advocacy groups.
I do not seek to take away from the important role these organisations play, but we must listen to the parents and children who have been through the system also. Rightly, the INTO points out that bureaucracy must not become a barrier to children getting the necessary resources. It is welcome that the INTO has raised the issue. It issued a caution about the difficulty of additional paperwork being demanded of classroom teachers. While we acknowledge that there must be records and paperwork, we cannot smother and overcome teachers with it. The practitioner who wants to deliver and impart knowledge must not be overwhelmed by paperwork.
Greater investment in special education at a key stage in a child's development leads to greater outcomes. It ensures children have the opportunity to reach their potential and contributes handsomely to society. It is obvious that there is a clear need for greater co-operation between primary and post-primary schools on the transfer of students with special needs and it is essential that there be a smooth transition for children from primary to post-primary school. It may be that we need a discussion among relevant stakeholders, but it is broadly accepted that the general allocation model at primary level should also be applied at post-primary level. These are all issues which should be assessed on an ongoing basis and should not represent a barrier to progress. They should be an impetus to improvements in the system.
I do not want to take up my five minutes by referring to previous contributions, but the last contribution represents the type of debate we need. I agree in almost every respect with the comments made. This is about ensuring the children in our schools who need additional supports get them. We must measure the best possible outcome for these children and address the transition from primary to secondary school. I am not certain the same model should apply at primary and secondary level, but it is a debate we need to have. No child is the same person when he or she transitions from primary to secondary. Clearly, we should not expect children with special educational needs to remain the same.
I wish to put certain claims to bed in relation to SNAs. We have not reduced the number of SNAs. There has been no cut. In 2012 we had 475 spare SNAs and last year we had 160. This year it is estimated that there will be at least 80 spare SNAs. That is the reserve available to children who come into the system needing additional support.
I must refer to Deputy Timmy Dooley's comments. He has said the only people who go to guidance counsellors are dysfunctional individuals who come from families that do not care. He should withdraw that comment. Guidance counsellors deal with everyone in the school community, or did deal with everyone. We hope now that the whole-of-school approach plays a part and includes guidance counsellors. That is not to take away from the expertise they have in the area.
I welcome the opportunity to address some of the issues surrounding the allocation of supports for children with special educational needs for the coming school year and to respond to the debate on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. The Government has listened carefully to the contributions of Members on both sides of the House over the course of the debate. I welcome the measured tone of most of the contributions, particularly Deputy Brendan Smith's. This morning the Minister met a number of representative groups, including parents and children with special educational needs. He heard the fears expressed by parents about their children's futures. He heard the real and tangible upset parents expressed that many of their children faced a future of isolation and exclusion if they were not supported to engage fully in their education. A number of parents referred to a recent report prepared by the National Disability Authority, which suggested more than 20% of parents of typical children, or those without a disability, did not welcome the fact that their children would be educated with children with special educational needs. That is alarming, but given my responsibility for disability matters, it comes as no surprise to me. That type of attitude has been hardening in recent years.
I assure parents that despite the confusing messages appearing in the media and the inaccurate and confusing messages which have been repeated continuously by Opposition parties and others, there has been no cut to the level of special needs assistant support allocated to their children. As I have said on numerous occasions in relation to my responsibility for mental health, Members of the Dáil must remember that what we say in the House has a real impact on people's lives. Of course, the Opposition has a duty to oppose. In doing so, however, it must recognise its responsibility to represent the facts as they are. The Fianna Fáil motion started by condemning what it termed the deplorable announcement of cuts in special needs assistant supports. The Government has made no such announcement and neither has the NCSE. I invite Deputy Charlie McConalogue to acknowledge publicly that this is the case when he has the opportunity to do so.
This year, after allocating special needs assistants to qualifying children on exactly the same basis as last year, the NCSE has 80 posts which remain available for late applications. It is expected that some of the allocated posts will be freed up when schools open in September as some children may have enrolled in more than one school. Where a child does not turn up, the NCSE will recover the allocated post. Last year it recovered more than 25 posts in this way. We recognise fully that there is significant pressure on special needs assistant numbers this year and that the extent of late demand is, as yet, unknown. The Minister has asked the NCSE to keep him informed of progress over the summer.
I commend the amendment to the motion. I note the contribution of Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, which finished significantly with a reference to the Anglo Irish Bank tapes. We must all remember those awful tapes of people laughing at taxpayers in Ireland and the rest of Europe. That has played a significant part in reducing the resources the country can offer a range of people.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate and compliment my colleague for providing Members on all sides with a chance to reflect on the approach to education for children with disabilities.
Over the course of the last week I have been contacted, like many colleagues, by many people who were rightly enraged and disgusted by the decision to cut resource hours and special needs assistants for people with intellectual and physical disabilities. Last Thursday the Tánaiste denied when questioned on the floor of the Dáil that there would be any reduction in resource hours and special needs assistants in the next school year. We knew then that it was untrue and everyone knows now. I welcome the announcement by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, yesterday that the Government will hire 500 additional resource teachers to deal with the increased demand. More important than any Member's welcome for the announcement is the great relief it brought to the parents of the 42,500 children who require additional help. That is what is most important.
In his speech on the motion last night the Minister attempted to deflect his responsibility to the National Council for Special Education. Is it not true to say he knew of the decision for the past three weeks and, ultimately, sanctioned the cut as Minister? Why has extensive media coverage outlining the inhumane, inequitable and unfair nature of the decision been required? Why have so many parents of children with disabilities had to give up their precious and scarce time to contact Deputies and take to the airwaves and streets?
Why did it take this Private Members' motion for the Government to acknowledge that it is fundamentally wrong deliberately to target children with disabilities for further cuts - cuts on top of the 10% reduction in June 2011 and the 5% reduction in June 2012? This is despite the Government's solemn pledge to protect front-line services.
I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, will agree that resource teachers and SNAs are front-line services. It is only in recent days we realised that 90% of the €3 million for autism remains unspent. What confidence can people have in the priority the Government has given to children with disabilities when decisions such as these are being made?
The Minister apologised for the unnecessary anxiety the decision caused and I acknowledge that he was man enough to admit his mistake. If this was his first mistake, it could be forgiven but he made a mistake in his first budget in relation to DEIS schools, another section in society that is very disadvantaged and marginalised. There was the debacle of Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI. It was a fiasco. Even today I was making telephone calls on behalf of students who so badly need the financial support and who are still waiting for it to be administered. Is it any wonder there is widespread scepticism about the assurances the Minister gave last night?
Last night, the Minister, Deputy Quinn, stated: "Parents who may have been frightened by reports of cuts need have no fears that their child will be denied access to an SNA." There will be 2,000 more children in need of an SNA in September 2013 than there were in June 2012, with no increase in the number of SNAs. It is disingenuous to talk of a cap placed in 2010 knowing full well that the number of children in need of this service has increased dramatically since then.
Last night, the Minister spoke of children having access to special needs assistants. These children require much more than having access. They require the full support of an SNA to ensure that, despite their disabilities, they too will have the opportunity to reach their full potential and that we fulfil our obligations under the Proclamation to cherish "all the children of the nation equally".
The previous week has shown the urgent need for the full implementation of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004, which places inclusion at the heart of practice and states that children with special educational needs will be educated in an inclusive environment. I welcome the National Council for Special Education policy paper supporting students with special needs published in May of this year. However, one would wonder why the Minister made the decisions of last week without first looking at implementing this plan in conjunction with the parents, all the stakeholders and the children. We all agree we need a robust regulatory framework and that we must maximise the €1.3 billion annual budget in special education to ensure greater efficiencies so that resources are available for the full implementation of this Act and to ensure all those in need of support get it.
As my party's spokesperson on children, I wish to highlight the current gap in the legislative framework with regard to early childhood care and education provision for those with special educational needs. I implore that the relevant section in the Department of Education and Skills would engage with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs as a priority. Others have outlined that we must look at the transition, from primary to post-primary. We also need to look at early childhood education - the most formative years of a child's life - and the transition from those years to primary education. I commend the motion of my colleague to the House.
I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, for being here, but I must question where the Minister, Deputy Quinn, is-----
He is at another meeting.
-----and where the Ministers of State at his Department are. When this important motion is before the House, it is disrespectful that the Minister cannot be here to listen to the debate. It is disrespectful to those who protested, both outside and in other parts of the country, and it is also disrespectful to the parents of many of the children who are here in the Visitors Gallery to listen to the debate tonight as well. It is the least we could have expected. At a minimum, an upfront explanation would have been required.
I commend those who came out today to highlight the impact these cuts will have, particularly in special needs assistant hours to which the Minister has not made any change in recent days. I commend those young people from my party who attended and I want to remark upon the unfortunate fact that they experienced bullying behaviour from some who attended holding political party placards. It was unacceptable that they would focus on the young people who were there from my own party showing a genuine concern for the special needs assistant issue instead of paying attention to the speeches which were going on at the protest behind.
There are two aspects to the announcement on this issue. The contradiction I pointed out in the Dáil on Thursday last was that, unlike the fact the Minister was hiring 900 additional mainstream teachers across the system to provide for the additional demand in September, he was not making a similar provision in the case of resource teaching hours for special needs students or special needs assistants. I raised this issue on several occasions since the budget, which is when he introduced this measure, and on every occasion since then until last week, the Minister refused to admit there would be any cut to the services which were to be experienced by students. I never stated there would be a change to the overall figure, either in SNAs or in resource teachers. What I stated was that there would be a cut experienced by each student. That was made clear eventually when the Minister had to admit it last week in the case of resource teaching hours when the National Council for Special Education highlighted that students in September next would get only 0.75 of their hours instead of the 0.85 they received last year - a 12% cut. Each and every special needs child with particular learning needs in the country who was eligible for resource teaching hours was to experience a 12% cut. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Gilmore, told me clearly during Leaders' Questions last Thursday morning that "there is no cut". He would not admit that every child would experience a cut. Yesterday, his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Quinn, admitted at last that there would be a cut experienced by every child and stated that he would provide an additional 500 teachers to ensure the cut would not be experienced by children in September.
However, the Government still pursues the fallacy and pretence that no cut will be experienced by students who require special needs assistants in classrooms. I admit the cap remains the same-----
There is spare capacity. Does Deputy McConalogue accept the figures?
Deputy McConalogue has only two minutes left.
-----but I enlighten the Minister of State that the number will now have to be spread more thinly, with 10% additional demand. As with the resource teacher issue, the starting point is admitting there is a cut. If the Minister of State speaks to the parents who were protesting outside the Dáil today, they will tell her that.
This morning a number of the organisations concerned had a meeting with the Minister, Deputy Quinn. The disability groups comprised Inclusion Ireland, Special Needs Parents Association, Irish Autism Action, Irish Society for Autism, Dyspraxia Association of Ireland, Irish National Council for AD/HD Support Groups and the National Parents Council. They released a joint statement earlier which stated that the inevitable outcome of the approach of the Government will be that shared access to SNAs will be more prevalent, leading to a reduction in the quality of support for all children with identified needs. That is the view of the organisations that know the situation on the ground. Instead, the Minister has said that because she is holding back 80 spare SNA positions-----
We are not holding them back.
She said 80 are being held back for the autumn for additional demand. She is trying to say that since those 80 have not been allocated, there has not been a cut. She is saying, "How can there be a cut when there are still 80 left over?".
I am saying there is spare capacity.
There are 80 spare for the autumn. Last week, the Minister, Deputy Quinn, was holding back 500 resource teachers for the autumn. He tried to claim that the fact that those 500 were being held back meant there was no cut to resource teaching hours.
However, he had to acknowledge the reality and he has brought those 500 posts forward to ensure there will not be a cut. There is an outstanding question in that regard. The Minister has not clarified if there will be additional resource teaching hours this autumn to meet the demand that will exist. We need clarity on that but we have not been given it.
To conclude, the motion seeks two things. The first is that additional resource teachers be hired because of the 12% cut which students will experience as a result of increased demand and the cap remaining the same. Thankfully, the Minister admitted that was a cut and has provided those teachers. The second part of the motion asks that additional special needs assistants be hired in response to the fact that as the cap remains in place and demand has increased by 10%, the same number of teachers will have to be shared among 10% more children, leading to more sharing of SNAs and cuts for the students who qualify for SNAs. None of the government Deputies made reference tonight to the fact that there will be more pressure on SNAs and that 10% more children will be availing of SNA support, leading to 10% thinner provision of SNA support. Please admit there is a cut and treat these children fairly by hiring additional services, so no child will have to experience a reduction in the service being provided to them by the State when the new term starts in September.
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 71; Níl, 47.
Tá
- Bannon, James.
- Breen, Pat.
- Bruton, Richard.
- Burton, Joan.
- Butler, Ray.
- Buttimer, Jerry.
- Byrne, Catherine.
- Byrne, Eric.
- Coffey, Paudie.
- Collins, Áine.
- Conaghan, Michael.
- Conlan, Seán.
- Conway, Ciara.
- Corcoran Kennedy, Marcella.
- Costello, Joe.
- Creed, Michael.
- Daly, Jim.
- Deenihan, Jimmy.
- Donohoe, Paschal.
- Dowds, Robert.
- Doyle, Andrew.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- English, Damien.
- Farrell, Alan.
- Feighan, Frank.
- Ferris, Anne.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Flanagan, Terence.
- Griffin, Brendan.
- Hannigan, Dominic.
- Harrington, Noel.
- Harris, Simon.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Hogan, Phil.
- Humphreys, Kevin.
- Keating, Derek.
- Kehoe, Paul.
- Kenny, Seán.
- Kyne, Seán.
- Lawlor, Anthony.
- Lynch, Ciarán.
- Lynch, Kathleen.
- Lyons, John.
- McCarthy, Michael.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGinley, Dinny.
- McHugh, Joe.
- McLoughlin, Tony.
- Maloney, Eamonn.
- Mathews, Peter.
- Mitchell, Olivia.
- Mitchell O'Connor, Mary.
- Mulherin, Michelle.
- Murphy, Dara.
- Nash, Gerald.
- Neville, Dan.
- Nolan, Derek.
- Ó Ríordáin, Aodhán.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Donovan, Patrick.
- O'Mahony, John.
- Perry, John.
- Reilly, James.
- Spring, Arthur.
- Stagg, Emmet.
- Stanton, David.
- Timmins, Billy.
- Tuffy, Joanna.
- Varadkar, Leo.
- Walsh, Brian.
- White, Alex.
Níl
- Adams, Gerry.
- Broughan, Thomas P.
- Browne, John.
- Collins, Joan.
- Colreavy, Michael.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Daly, Clare.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Dooley, Timmy.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- Ferris, Martin.
- Flanagan, Luke 'Ming'.
- Fleming, Tom.
- Grealish, Noel.
- Halligan, John.
- Healy, Seamus.
- Healy-Rae, Michael.
- Keaveney, Colm.
- Kelleher, Billy.
- Kirk, Seamus.
- Kitt, Michael P.
- Lowry, Michael.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McConalogue, Charlie.
- McDonald, Mary Lou.
- McGrath, Finian.
- McGrath, Mattie.
- McGrath, Michael.
- McLellan, Sandra.
- Martin, Micheál.
- Murphy, Catherine.
- Naughten, Denis.
- Nulty, Patrick.
- Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- O'Brien, Jonathan.
- O'Sullivan, Maureen.
- Pringle, Thomas.
- Ross, Shane.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Troy, Robert.
- Wallace, Mick.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Emmet Stagg and Paul Kehoe; Níl, Deputies Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Seán Ó Fearghaíl.
Amendment declared.
Question put: "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to."
The Dáil divided: Tá, 72; Níl, 47.
Tá
- Bannon, James.
- Breen, Pat.
- Bruton, Richard.
- Burton, Joan.
- Butler, Ray.
- Buttimer, Jerry.
- Byrne, Catherine.
- Byrne, Eric.
- Coffey, Paudie.
- Collins, Áine.
- Conaghan, Michael.
- Conlan, Seán.
- Conway, Ciara.
- Corcoran Kennedy, Marcella.
- Costello, Joe.
- Creed, Michael.
- Daly, Jim.
- Deenihan, Jimmy.
- Donohoe, Paschal.
- Dowds, Robert.
- Doyle, Andrew.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- English, Damien.
- Farrell, Alan.
- Feighan, Frank.
- Ferris, Anne.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Flanagan, Terence.
- Griffin, Brendan.
- Hannigan, Dominic.
- Harrington, Noel.
- Harris, Simon.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Hogan, Phil.
- Humphreys, Kevin.
- Keating, Derek.
- Kehoe, Paul.
- Kenny, Seán.
- Kyne, Seán.
- Lawlor, Anthony.
- Lynch, Ciarán.
- Lynch, Kathleen.
- Lyons, John.
- McCarthy, Michael.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGinley, Dinny.
- McHugh, Joe.
- McLoughlin, Tony.
- Maloney, Eamonn.
- Mathews, Peter.
- Mitchell, Olivia.
- Mitchell O'Connor, Mary.
- Mulherin, Michelle.
- Murphy, Dara.
- Nash, Gerald.
- Neville, Dan.
- Nolan, Derek.
- Ó Ríordáin, Aodhán.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Donovan, Patrick.
- O'Mahony, John.
- Perry, John.
- Reilly, James.
- Ring, Michael.
- Spring, Arthur.
- Stagg, Emmet.
- Stanton, David.
- Timmins, Billy.
- Tuffy, Joanna.
- Varadkar, Leo.
- Walsh, Brian.
- White, Alex.
Níl
- Adams, Gerry.
- Broughan, Thomas P.
- Browne, John.
- Collins, Joan.
- Colreavy, Michael.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Daly, Clare.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Dooley, Timmy.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- Ferris, Martin.
- Flanagan, Luke 'Ming'.
- Fleming, Tom.
- Grealish, Noel.
- Halligan, John.
- Healy, Seamus.
- Healy-Rae, Michael.
- Keaveney, Colm.
- Kelleher, Billy.
- Kirk, Seamus.
- Kitt, Michael P.
- Lowry, Michael.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McConalogue, Charlie.
- McDonald, Mary Lou.
- McGrath, Finian.
- McGrath, Mattie.
- McGrath, Michael.
- McLellan, Sandra.
- Martin, Micheál.
- Murphy, Catherine.
- Naughten, Denis.
- Nulty, Patrick.
- Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- O'Brien, Jonathan.
- O'Sullivan, Maureen.
- Pringle, Thomas.
- Ross, Shane.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Troy, Robert.
- Wallace, Mick.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Emmet Stagg and Paul Kehoe; Níl, Deputies Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Seán Ó Fearghaíl.
Question declared carried.
