Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 10 Apr 2008

Vol. 651 No. 4

Adjournment Debate.

Services for People with Disabilities.

Deputy Pat Rabbitte

Leslie is a 16 year old girl with Down's syndrome who lives in my constituency. She is cared for by her mother in the local authority house in which they live. Her mother is a lone parent in receipt of carer's allowance. Leslie attends special education at St. John of God's, Islandbridge, the work of which most if not all Members of this House hold in high regard. Although 16 years old, Leslie has never had access to speech therapy except for a period of six weeks in a group context. Leslie badly needs appropriate access to speech and language therapy. Her mother came to see me at her wit's end in October 2006. Leslie could not get access to the limited speech therapy available at St. John of God's. As she is in special education, she does not have access to speech therapy where it is provided by community services.

Since October 2006 my office and I have been pressing for at least some effort to be made to meet Leslie's pressing needs. We have been round and round the mulberry bush but have been ignored or referred from Billy to Jack. Meaningless replies or no replies at all are the norm. For example, in reply to a parliamentary question I put on 12 February 2008 I was told by the Minister for Health and Children, along with the usual macro statistics:

The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Accordingly, my Department has requested the parliamentary affairs division of the executive to arrange to have these matters investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.

That was on 12 February and today is 10 April, but I have not even received a reply from the HSE. I can see no reason for optimism given the tenor of my exchanges directly with the HSE. Usually replies are evasive and deliberately avoid the actual problem. In direct correspondence painfully extracted over a long period, I was told that St. John of God's has a speech and language therapy post attached to its service, so Leslie should access speech and language therapy there. The reply ignored the basic fact that the speech and language therapy post is either vacant for long periods or access to it is denied to Leslie because of pressure to give priority to the under five year olds. I have pointed this out in writing to the HSE but it simply refused to reply. This is typical of the evasive, insensitive, time wasting bureaucratic speak of the public agencies on which Leslie is entitled to rely. The local authority responded in a similarly insensitive manner to an earnest request to facilitate a local housing transfer on foot of anti-social behaviour. South Dublin County Council refused to transfer Leslie and her mother to a vacant house in a safe cul de sac. If Leslie’s mother works for more than 15 hours, she will lose part or all of her carer’s allowance.

The reality of Celtic tiger Ireland is that Leslie and her mother are besieged by anti-social behaviour in their home, her mother is unable to go out to work because she would lose her benefit and Leslie is unable to access the intensive speech and language therapy that she so desperately needs. Worst of all is that it is not possible to find someone who gives a damn. The Minister will pass the buck to the HSE, the HSE will go to the word processor that churns out a routine reply for this kind of case and the county council refuses a housing transfer by taking shelter behind the opinion of a medical officer who is accountable to no one.

What medical qualifications does one need not to recognise that a young woman of 16 with Down's syndrome may need a safer environment? What kind of manpower planning has left Islandbridge without speech therapists for long periods and inadequate access at the best of times? I ask the Minister to take responsibility for the vindication of the rights of this child. She is entitled to have access to the intensive speech therapy she has been denied until now. It is shameful this should be the case. In Celtic tiger Ireland, unless a parent can afford private access, a child with an intellectual disability continues to suffer.

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science (Deputy Seán Haughey)

I will be taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney. I am pleased to take this opportunity to address the important issues raised by the Deputy.

I wish to emphasise the Government's commitment to providing a high quality service to all people with a disability. This commitment is illustrated by the substantial investment we have been making in disability services in recent years. The national disability strategy, launched in September 2004, reinforces equal participation in society of people with disabilities and provides for a framework of new supports for people with disabilities. This programme, together with the enhancement of other key support services, is a key factor in building the additional capacity required to ensure that services best meet identified needs.

The strategy builds on a strong equality framework, which is reflected in several pieces of equality legislation. It puts the policy of mainstreaming of public services for people with disabilities on a clear legal footing. The main elements of the strategy were the Disability Act 2005; the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004; the sectoral plans published in 2006 by six Departments; the Citizens Information Act 2007; and the multi-annual investment programme for disability support services for the period 2006-09. In launching the national disability strategy, the Taoiseach also announced the Government's commitment to a multi-annual investment package for disability-specific services over a five-year period. To the end of 2007, €420 million has been allocated to services for people with disabilities since the launch of the strategy in 2004.

As the Deputy is aware, an additional €50 million was allocated by my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Cowen, for the provision of improved and additional disability services in the budget for 2008. The HSE proposes to allocate this €50 million as follows. With regard to services for persons with intellectual disability and those with autism, 200 additional residential places will be provided in 2008, bringing the total number of places to 8,462 by the end of 2008; 467 additional day care places will be provided in 2008, bringing the total number of places to 25,196 by the end of 2008; and 53 additional respite places will be provided, which will bring the total number of places to 4,533 by the end of 2008. With regard to services for persons with physical or sensory disabilities, 80 additional residential places will be provided in 2008, bringing the total number of places to 914 by the end of 2008; and 200,000 additional hours of personal assistance-home support hours will be provided, which will bring the total number of hours to 3,200,000 by the end of 2008. With regard to the Disability Act, 140 multidisciplinary team posts are being provided to disability services to provide assessment and ongoing intervention services to children with a disability and in particular with reference to the implementation of the Disability Act for children under five years of age. By the end of the current multi-annual investment package in 2009, it is expected that 1,235 new residential places, 398 new respite places and 467 new day care places will have been commissioned for intellectual disability services, in addition to 380 new residential places and 1,150,000 extra personal assistance-home support hours for people with physical and sensory disabilities.

The Department of Health and Children has made inquiries with the HSE in the case named by the Deputy Rabbitte. The HSE has informed the Department of Health and Children that the St. John of God Menni Services, Islandbridge, has two whole-time equivalent speech and language therapy posts. One therapist has been employed by the organisation since September 2007 and the second therapist is in post since 2008. The HSE further states that since 2004 the St. John of God Menni Services at Islandbridge has experienced recruitment and retention problems with the speech and language therapist posts. Currently, there are 40 children aged 0-5 years and 40 children aged 5-18 years in receipt of this service from the order.

The Department of Health and Children understands from the HSE that the person mentioned by the Deputy was referred to the St. John of God's speech and language service in October 2007 and is on its waiting list for assessment. I will endeavour to ensure that the Department and the HSE keep Deputy Rabbitte informed of developments in this case.

Schools Building Projects.

Deputy Jimmy Deenihan

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this important matter. The new Convent Primary School in Listowel opened in 1990 on a greenfield site. It was then an eight-classroom school with two existing prefabs on the site of the old school. The prefabs were demolished and removed in 2000 due to asbestos danger. The current primary school is unique in that it shares its campus with Nano Nagle special school, an arrangement in which I was involved in 1987 as I was then closely involved with the Nano Nagle school. It was quite forward thinking at the time that a special school should be located on the same site as a mainstream school.

At present 19 mainstream teachers are working in the following conditions. The school has eight classrooms, seven portacabins, one converted small entrance hall which is used as a classroom, one corridor with a fire exit which is used as a classroom, one converted small library which is used as a classroom and the principal's office. There are 270 children attending the school, including special needs children, some of whom are autistic or have Down's syndrome, impaired hearing or cerebral palsy, among other conditions.

Due to the seven portacabins in the schoolyard the play area is severely restricted. This situation presents an ongoing daily nightmare in the schoolyard for both pupils and teachers. Running is curtailed due to lack of space in the playground, which is just 22 m by 16 m. As a result, children are allowed outside for only half the normal play time as the yard is too small to accommodate everyone. Basketball was played but this no longer happens in the schoolyard as portakabins are now located in the basketball play area. Portakabins present health problems for children and teachers due to fluctuating temperature in winter and summer, and in any case the portakabins are undersized.

There is also a major difficulty with car parking. The carpark in front of school, which I pass regularly, is extremely dangerous; but for good traffic management, accidents would happen. The carpark is shared with Nano Nagle special school, although just 20 carpark spaces are available. A green area could be converted into carparking spaces and I do not know why this has not been done.

There are 18 teachers and nine ancillary staff in the Convent primary school and 11 teachers and 32 ancillary staff in the Nano Nagle school. Therefore, there is a shortfall of 50 carparking spaces, without taking into account the number of parents and others who visit the school on a regular basis. This presents daily a chaotic and dangerous situation for teachers, parents and children and all concerned.

An application was made on 4 November 2004 for an extension to the school. The commission on accommodation recommended an immediate extension to the Convent primary school. The projection of new pupils is very consistent for future years and Listowel is a growing town with a population that will increase gradually. At present, parents are being forced to send their children to the neighbouring rural schools and this in turn puts pressure on those schools to increase their accommodation.

I appeal to the Minister to give some positive news to the principal, staff and board of management of the convent primary school in Listowel. They have a very strong case. It is not acceptable that children should have to be taught in portakabins that are not of proper size. In this age of obesity, young children need play areas and it is not acceptable that their playground should be taken over and restricted by the presence of portakabins.

Deputy Seán Haughey

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the position regarding a proposed building project for the Convent national school in Listowel, County Kerry.

I wish to explain the Deputy's reference to the commission on school accommodation. He is referring here to what is known as an area development plan for the north Kerry area which was published by the commission on school accommodation in January 2007. This plan examined primary and post-primary educational infrastructure provision in the Tarbert, Listowel, Ballybunion, Causeway, Castleisland and Tralee areas of north Kerry. The final plan derives from, among other things, a widespread public consultation process and, in its final format, the Department's long-term educational strategy at both primary and post-primary level is set out for the areas concerned. The plan also forms the framework against which capital investment for those areas will be made for the foreseeable future, subject to the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects.

There are 12 primary schools in Listowel. In its examination of enrolments in these schools, the commission found no change in enrolments between 1997 to 1998 and 2006 to 2007. While pointing out increases and decreases in enrolments in individual schools, the commission also found that there was no trend that would indicate a discernible increase in enrolments in the future in an overall context. From census data, the commission found that there was no significant increase in the demographics of the area either.

The convent national school is an all girls' school catering for pupils from junior infants to sixth class. It has a current enrolment of 271 pupils. The current staffing comprises a principal, seven classroom assistants, one resource teacher for Travellers, four learning support-resource teachers, one language support teacher and two teachers under the programme Giving Children an Even Break.

In its recommendation on the Convent national school, the commission on school accommodation said that attention should be given by the Department to its proposed building project. The project in question relates to the replacement of prefab accommodation. The application for capital funding to enable this has been assessed and assigned a band two rating under the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects to which I already referred. This reflects the fact that the school has a significant element of permanent accommodation and some prefab structures.

The Deputy will appreciate that the focus for my Department's capital programme for 2008 is on providing accommodation in areas of rapid population growth where little or no school accommodation exists. Where the budgetary situation allows, however, other projects may be approved to proceed, but this will be in accordance with the band rating assigned to individual projects to ensure that the highest priority projects are targeted first. This is the purpose of the prioritisation criteria in the first place. Progression of the project for the Convent national school in Listowel will be considered in this context.

I again thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The Government has invested heavily in extending and upgrading the existing school stock in recent years because it has a full appreciation of the need to ensure that all our schools have adequate facilities. It is the Department's intention to continue this process to build on the huge progress which has been made.

School Accommodation.

Deputy Jack Wall

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, for taking this Adjournment debate.

The daily e-mails and representations I currently receive about educational facilities in Kildare paint a sorry picture of crowded classrooms, poor prefabricated buildings, a lack of quality sanitary services and a lack of the most basic utilities any school needs to carry out its daily function. The pressure and stress on the wonderful teachers who have to teach in such substandard facilities is exacerbated by letters received from the Department, some stretching back over seven years, which offer hope for modern facilities and dates for new modern buildings. These letters now gather dust as the dates and promises contained within have come and gone and the facilities in these schools continue to disimprove, with no announcement from the Minister.

I am deeply concerned about safety issues, especially in regard to electrical installations in some schools. The Department does not appear to take any responsibility for this matter. When schools are on the building list funding is not provided for maintenance. Perhaps the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, will bring this issue to the Minister's attention when he gets a chance.

I am informed that such a letter was sent to the national school at Caragh on 26 November 2006. Despite the fact that there is only one staff toilet for 35 to 40 staff members, that more than 65% of pupils are educated in largely sub-standard prefabs, many of which are leaking and contain holes, the new school, as promised in the Minister's letter of 18 months ago, has not gone ahead and the wait for pupils, teaching staff and parents continues. The national school at Nurney is also waiting final approval. An effort was made by the parents and local people to purchase a site for a new school through fundraising. The Minister's speeches are awaited with bated breath but unfortunately Nurney has not made the cut either.

The wonderful school of Scoil Bhríde Naofa in Athgarvan has operated for approximately 28 years in mainly prefabricated buildings. In spite of the fact that schools in the nearby town of Newbridge are almost at bursting point, the Minister did not use the recent announcement of capital funding to reduce the burden on the pupils and teaching staff of this school and on the greater community of the biggest town in my constituency. In this case land was zoned by the local authority but the owner of the land said it was not for sale. I believe the Department cannot compulsorily purchase land for educational needs. I do not understand the lack of progress or how this zoning could be made, especially given the urgent need in this area for a school and the fact that the existing school has no play area and only prefabricated buildings.

An unbelievable situation surrounds the Community College in Athy. The Taoiseach performed a sod-turning ceremony on this site seven years ago, yet despite the lack of adequate hot water, or a modern comprehensive heating system and the deplorable fact that there are only three toilet cubicles for 101 boys and four cubicles for 133 girls, the wait for the pupils and staff continues. Not alone is the education of the children in Athy and surrounding districts suffering but adult education is suffering also. Provision in this area, which is so popular and is vital to any community, has to be cut back due to a lack of facilities. Time and again we have been promised funding will be made available for this school but nothing has happened to date. Local people eagerly await each roll-out but have been sadly disappointed to date. Given the fact that the Taoiseach, who is now in the last days of his tenure, turned the sod on a new school seven years ago, I hope and pray the genuine intention was there to build a new school rather than to engage in a political ploy. Whatever the case, seven years later there has not been any advancement of the school.

At a time when the population of Kildare is at an all-time high, planning for educational facilities in the county appears to have been forgotten. Such facilities bring satisfaction and allow children who are the future Deputies and Ministers to receive their education in the comfort and security of which any modern country would be proud. The four schools to which I referred are unfortunately not the only ones in my constituency that experience problems currently. They are, however, among the worst cases I have come across and I urge the Minister immediately to address their concerns.

This is the most important time in the lives of the students of these four schools and it is up to the Minister to ensure they have happy memories rather than memories of cold prefabs where they and their teachers had to queue to use the toilet facilities each day. I could speak about other schools.

I welcome the impending visit of the Minister next week to open facilities at Kilmead and Athy. The general consensus is that Kildare has been forgotten in terms of funding for schools. I hope the new community college will be included in the next roll-out for the sake of the students but also of the adult population of Athy and its hinterland who are also suffering.

Deputy Seán Haughey

I thank the Deputy for raising these matters and giving me the opportunity to outline to the House the actions being taken by the Department of Education and Science to address the accommodation needs of the schools referred to in County Kildare. Under the national development plan, €4.5 billion has been assigned to the capital requirements of the primary and post-primary sectors. Almost €600 million will be spent this year on school buildings.

Regarding the schools referred to by the Deputy, Caragh national school and Athy community college are situated in locations — Naas and Athy — designated as developing areas in the school planning and building unit. As part of the programme for Government, a developing areas unit was established recently in the Department to focus on the school accommodation needs of such developing areas, with the main emphasis in 2008 centring on the provision of sufficient school places in these areas, as well as delivering improvements in the quality of existing primary and post-primary school accommodation.

Architectural planning of a new community college in Athy is at an advanced stage and a tender report has been received in my Department. This project will deliver a new 4,850 m2 school to cater for a projected enrolment of 400 pupils. Along with a wide range of general and specialist classrooms and associated administration-ancillary accommodation, a dedicated physical education hall and facility for students with autism are also included in the plans.

Caragh national school's building project is also at an advanced stage of architectural planning. An extension of 15 classrooms, a general purpose room and ancillary accommodation are planned. When the project is complete the school will have a total of 20 mainstream classrooms.

In the context of developing areas, the status of all schools in Naas and Athy is being assessed as part of an overall delivery plan for each centre and work on these plans is at an advanced stage. Delivery plans will be used to inform future programmes for construction in developing areas from 2009 onwards.

Scoil Bhríde national school in Athgarvan is at a very advanced stage of architectural planning. It is proposed to provide four additional classrooms plus ancillary accommodation to provide a ten classroom school. Nurney national school is also at a very advanced stage of architectural planning. It is proposed to demolish the existing school and replace it with a new eight classroom school.

The Deputy will appreciate that the progression of all large-scale building projects from initial design stage through to construction phase is considered on an ongoing basis in the context of the Department's multi-annual school building and modernisation programme, in which the main focus is to deliver school places within rapidly developing areas. He will also be aware that a school building programme for any year is rolled out in tranches to ensure the steady flow of projects to underpin the multi-annual nature of the school building and modernisation programme. The first tranche of the Department's capital programme for 2008 was announced last February. The Minister for Education and Science intends to make further announcements during this year regarding projects to progress in the context of the Department's building programme. I thank the Deputy again for raising these matters in this House.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.15 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 15 April 2008.