Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 18 Feb 2025

Vol. 1063 No. 1

Provision of Special Education: Motion [Private Members]

Deputy Darren O'Rourke

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

recognises:

— the fundamental right of every child to access the education system;

— the current and projected demand for special education placements is growing;

— the current shortage of special classes and appropriate school places, leaving children, particularly those with additional needs, without access to suitable education;

— the trauma and absolute heartbreak endured by parents and families due to the lack of suitable school places;

— the failure of successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments to adequately plan for, and invest in, the expansion of special education;

— the lack of coordination between the Department of Education, the National Council for Special Education and schools, resulting in a fragmented and inefficient system;

— the disproportionate impact on children from disadvantaged backgrounds, who face even greater barriers to accessing appropriate education; and

— the current state of special education is unacceptable and fails to uphold the rights of children with additional needs; and

calls on the Government to:

— immediately expand the number of special school places, special classes and special education teaching hours across the State;

— ensure every child currently without a suitable school place, and all those due to start Primary or Post-Primary Schools in September, 2025, have access to a suitable school place within a reasonable distance from their home;

— enact the Education (Inclusion of Persons) Bill 2023, and the Education (Amendment) Bill 2024, to identify demand, gaps in provision, and to develop a long-term strategy for special education;

— ensure meaningful consultation and greater collaboration between education authorities and school leaders in special education planning and delivery, and to address the shortage in special schools and special class placements;

— streamline the process for opening new special classes and provide additional funding and resources for schools opening new special classes;

— invest in recruitment and continuous professional development for teachers and Special Needs Assistants to ensure they are supported to meet the diverse needs of students in special classes, and this must include addressing the root causes of the recruitment and retention crisis in the education and disability sectors; and

— expand the Educational Therapy Support Service, to help build the capacity of school communities to meet student's needs.

I am sharing time with colleagues. I welcome that the senior Minister is joining us now. We were prompted to bring forward this motion after listening to the heartbreaking stories of parents of children with special educational needs who are currently denied a suitable school place. Those parents are hoping against hope and fighting day and night for a suitable school place for their child for September, but this is something they should not have to do. I am very grateful to those parents who shared their stories with us and I welcome a number of them to the Visitors Gallery this evening. Those stories are harrowing. Parents talk about being heartbroken and shattered as they, in many cases, receive rejection after rejection from schools. They talk about the incredible impact an appropriate preschool placement has made and how they fear their child will regress if he or she does not get a suitable place at primary school. Parents fear that because other parents have told them about their own child's experience. It is the same, and perhaps worse, at secondary level.

We know that despite the commitments from the previous Minister, 126 children with a special educational recommendation were left without a school place last September. All too often in the scramble for school places, parents of children with special educational needs are told to readjust their expectations. They may be told to extend their scope and look further away. Is an hour or an hour and a half too far away? That is not right or proper. Our motion specifically calls for places to be provided within a reasonable distance of people's homes. Parents may be told that their child is on a waiting list or that they are being entered into a lottery to see who gets one of the all-too-few local places. No child, and indeed no school leader, should be put in that position. For many people, despite it being a last resort, home tuition is the only option. We know that the number of children with special educational needs who are accessing home tuition has almost doubled in recent years, going from 69 to 135 in the past year alone.

At the root of this is a failure to plan, a failure to prepare, a failure to invest and more than anything a failure to deliver. There has been a failure by successive governments to deliver for children with special educational needs. It is not just Sinn Féin that has identified these failings - they have also been identified by the Ombudsman for Children, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and others. The Ombudsman for Children said that there "is still no comprehensive and coherent plan to ensure every child with special educational needs has a school place locally in a timely manner". The Department's forecasting model is flawed, just as its approach to data collection and collation is flawed. There is no centralised application system. The basic building blocks for a well managed system simply are not there. We are in mid-February and right across the State there are parents scrambling for places for September. At the same time, there are school leaders who want to provide extra places but are told they cannot do so because of departmental bureaucracy. It is a case of "computer says no." Elsewhere, there are school leaders who want to provide extra places but they will not be ready in time for September because, for example, the school build was delayed and the Department will not sanction modular accommodation in the meantime. There are many more examples.

I have no doubt that the Minister will come forward and outline the scale of investment in special education in recent years, and I acknowledge that investment. However, the Minister must acknowledge the shamefully low base it started from due to years of underinvestment. She must also acknowledge the number of children who have to travel too far for a school place, who are on a reduced timetable due to lack of supports, whose school place does not meet their needs and, critically, who are locked out of school completely. This Sinn Féin motion is quite specific. It calls on the Government to ensure every child currently without a suitable school place, and all of those due to start primary or secondary school in September 2025, have access to a suitable school place within a reasonable distance of his or her home. To achieve that, the provision of school places for children with special educational needs must be priority number one for the Minister. It can be done with the right focus and a determination to address the barriers to delivery. The Minister will have my full support and the support of my party, and I am sure others in opposition, to achieve that but the time for broken promises is over. I commend the motion to the House and I look forward to the debate.

Deputy Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh

I am honoured to speak as Sinn Féin's newly appointed spokesperson for special education. As a former múinteoir, I have cried tears of anger and frustration with parents when their child was denied an appropriate school place. Entire families are left feeling hopeless, as if there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and concerned that their child will be left behind because of a Government that does not really seem to care. We need a system that prioritises our children's rights and that gives every parent the peace of mind they deserve. It is utterly heartbreaking to hear the stories of the parents here today and the parents in my area in Kildare. Too many families face an uphill battle simply to secure an appropriate school place for their children. Families are left overwhelmed and distraught not by lack of effort or love on their part but by the failure of successive governments that have left our most vulnerable children behind.

I recently spoke to a mammy from Newbridge who applied to more than 30 schools for her child.

She was given no support. She only found the information she desperately needed off her own back through social media and peer groups of other parents. She then had to pay for a private assessment to access the necessary report. She was left to navigate this alone. Her only guidance from the SENO was simply to apply everywhere. She did. She applied everywhere, even as far as 80 km from her home, in the hopes that her baby would get an appropriate school place somewhere, but there was another cruel twist. They were pushed to the bottom of the waiting list because they did not come from that local area. She is not alone. This is a daily reality for far too many parents. We met eight different families only hours ago who are here today and who shared their individual stories. Let us be clear that this system is not working. No parent or child should have to endure the stress and uncertainty of not knowing if their child will have a school place. Ní mór don Rialtas a chinntiú go mbeidh rochtain ag gach páiste atá gan áit scoile oiriúnaí faoi láthair, agus ag gach páiste a bheidh ag dul ar scoil, bíodh sin bunscoil nó iarbhunscoil, i mí Meán Fómhair 2025, ar áit scoile oiriúnaí laistigh d’achar réasúnta ón mbaile.

Deputy David Cullinane

I firstly welcome to the Public Gallery many of the parents from County Waterford who have travelled and who are doing everything possible to ensure their children will get the appropriate education they deserve. The facts are that they should not have to lobby, travel or protest because they have enough to do to look after their children. We met many of them and they talked about the strains that all of this is putting on their relationships. Some of them have left their jobs. It has upended their whole life. The least the State could do is to ensure that appropriate places are there for their children come September, yet for many, that is not the case. Up to 40 or 50 parents across Waterford city and county do not know whether their children will have a place. They tell me that they do everything by the book. They have linked in with the local SENO. They contacted school after school. In fact, one parent told me of 16 different schools where she got a refusal. How heartbreaking is that for that family? This is replicated across many families.

There is no proper registry of how many children are actually in need. We know from last year in Waterford that many children are left behind. I gave a commitment to each and every one of those parents, some of whom are not here, that I am not going to leave any of those children behind. Deputy Conor McGuinness will of course work with the Government but also hold the Government to account to ensure that each and every one of those children get the education that they deserve.

What really sickens me is that last week in this Dáil, the first act of this Government was not to ensure that these children are looked after, or to ensure that children with scoliosis get the treatment they deserve, but to bring in a Bill for more Ministers and allowances for Ministers, following on from the grubby, dirty deal that you guys did with the Michael Lowry group of Independents. That, to me, sets the tone for this Government. Its first act should have been to say to those parents in the Public Gallery and all those across this State that we are going to move heaven and earth to make sure that their children have the appropriate education they deserve, not to have more Ministers, more allowances and more jobs for the boys and girls, which we got from the Government last week. The Government has to get its priorities right. Darren O'Rourke, who is our education spokesperson, met the families. We have given them a commitment. We are not going to leave one child behind.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this. I am sure the Minister is aware that if you are a parent of a child with additional needs, sometimes it can be exhausting. It is not the child that exhausts you, but fighting against the system over and over again. Over the last number of weeks and indeed in the last number of days, with a huge number of people coming to us, I have heard first-hand from parents about that exhaustion and about how they have been beaten down by the system because their children do not have a place to go in September or indeed at this point in time.

In Donegal, we now have a full-blown crisis. I am sure the Minister is aware of the situation and I invite her to Donegal to look at it. We have a school, Little Angels School, which is the only school in the county dedicated to children with severe and profound learning disabilities. It is a fantastic school. It recently had a brand new state-of-the-art building constructed. It should be a moment of celebration for everybody but it is too small. Countless families have sat across from me, some of them in tears, who cannot get a place for their child, son or daughter, despite all the reports, some of which I have, telling them that they need to be in Little Angels. It is not fair on the staff, the principal or the board of management. The school is too small. These children are not newborns. The State should know that these children have additional needs and need to be supported in a classroom.

I have another family originally from Donegal. They live in Dublin now. Their file is so thick. They have been applying for the last three years to every single school and have been refused. They have been number one, six or eight on the list. That child is now transitioning into secondary school and has nowhere to go despite having additional needs. The primary school that she attends is telling her that it is not suitable for her needs. She went through the whole primary system knowing that she was in the wrong school. There is nowhere to go as she transitions to secondary school. The family has letter after letter refusing them. This is about cherishing the children of the nation equally. There is a clear sign. This is not the first time that we have had a debate on this. If you have children with additional needs, this Government is not looking after your needs. I ask the Minister to take action to make sure that all the stops are pulled out to accommodate these children.

Deputy Conor D. McGuinness

I want to start by sharing the experience of a constituent of mine who has travelled from Waterford today, alongside other mams and dads, to be in the Public Gallery as we debate this motion. Her name is Rebecca and she is the mother of Jay, one of 20 children in west Waterford who have been left without a special school space. I raised this previously with the Minister of State and twice in the Chamber in recent weeks. Rather than simply repeating my call for urgent action to add capacity in this area, I want to give voice to the frustration, worry, resilience, determination and hope of these 20 families through Rebecca's words. Rebecca stated:

Jay is a 5 year old preverbal autistic individual. He requires access to his primary school education for September 2025 in a special school setting. In terms of school spaces, it seems Jay is just a number but to us he is everything. He represents all that is good about the world and has a lot to teach those who are willing to take the time to get to know him. Education is a constitutional right and as his voice I am determined to be the person to fight for that for him because that is my job as his mother. Just as it is the government’s responsibility to protect the vulnerable and to ensure this situation we find ourselves in - is remediated with absolute urgency.

Rebecca continued:

There are 19 other families in the same situation in the town of Dungarvan, where there is only one school that can provide an appropriate education for our children. This school is at capacity and has been at capacity for the last few years. Our family have and continue to do everything to ensure our little boy thrives in every aspect of his life. We have created a world around our son that facilitates development, decreases vulnerability and ensures he will become as independent as possible for his future. There seems to be zero expectations for our children and it is just not good enough. We are not asking for special treatment we are just asking that our children are treated the same as every other child in the country - entitled to the highest standard of education to suit their needs. I refuse to accept that my child will not walk through the gates of the special school in Dungarvan in Sept 2025. It is his right. As a parent of a child with additional needs I answer to only one person – he is 5 years old with big blue eyes and no voice - but by God he will be heard.

I ask the Minister not only to add capacity for September, but to meet these parents, as I have asked her before, to hear their stories.

Deputy Sorca Clarke

Every child has a right to an appropriate education. Year after year, we can set our watches by parents coming onto local radio stations, on the phone and through email to say that their child with additional needs cannot find a school place, only now it is the principals too who are on the local radio stations. Producers on those shows are ringing local TDs because they are so profoundly affected by the parents who apply to 20, 22, 23 or 25 schools and get 25 rejection letters. Everybody knows that if you have a child with additional needs, there are days when it feels like you are pushing a rock up a mountain. That is exactly the situation that our current education system is creating for these families. One word comes to mind when I see the trauma and hear the fear and upset in parents' voices, which is cruelty, because that is what this is. It is entirely preventable. The Department is well aware of where these children are and what their additional needs are, but the Department and successive governments have failed and failed again to plan.

I want to be clear: this is not the responsibility of schools. This is not the responsibility of school leaders and it sure is not the responsibility of parents. The responsibility lies squarely on successive Governments. The Government needs to fix this and it needs to do so this urgently because each and every one of those children is entitled to the best possible education and to reach the best possible educational outcomes.

Deputy Claire Kerrane

I, too, rise in support of this motion. It has become an annual issue and we have already started hearing from parents in respect of next September. There was a particular issue last year, in south County Roscommon, in my constituency, with 18 children and 18 sets of parents run ragged trying to ring around schools and ask for a place, an education that meets their child's needs. It is a horrible and extremely stressful situation to put parents in, and it infects their entire families. A child with additional needs, no matter what those needs are, should be able to access an education in a local school. They should not have to travel long distances or be split up from their brothers and sisters who are attending the local school.

We also hear annually from school principals. Last year, a school in my constituency was requested by the NCSE to open a special class. It was happy to do so and had 24 children seeking a place in a rural school. It applied to the Department in plenty of time for additional accommodation to make this happen and to make sure it could meet the needs of those children in their community. It was told by the Department of Education to use its GP room. For young people and children, it is hard enough to start off at school - as it was for any of us - without shoving children into the GP room and setting up a class. Can the Minister imagine how different that makes a young person or child feel going into a school, where they are told to just use the GP room and a kind of makeshift classroom? It is hard enough to go in and have those additional needs when you are that young and that age, to then be made feel that you are different by the Department. That is an appalling way to treat any child. It is not appropriate or acceptable and it is not the way the Department should act. The Department of Education encourages schools to open special classes. We remember that it was naming schools that were not doing so. If the school is not supported to open the class in the first place, however, then that is not working either. It is not outside the remit of the Department to plan for and forecast these children's needs. We had a Bill seeking to provide that the NCSE and the Department would work together to forecast and plan for these children. It is not impossible.

Let us take a step back and look at this. In 2025, in one of the richest countries in the world, parents are put in a position whereby they have to ring around schools and lobby TDs and the Government to find a class place for their child to get them an education. In some cases, they are put under huge pressure to do that. It is not normal. It should not happen, and it is an issue we should be more than able to overcome. It is something that needs to be a priority now.

Minister for Education (Deputy Helen McEntee)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes that:

- a child's right to education is enshrined in the Constitution and, under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, must be accessible on an equal basis with others in the community in which they live; and

- the Government is committed to ensuring that each child with a special educational need has an appropriate school place, in line with their Constitutional right and Programme for Government commitments;

further notes:

- the continued significant State investment of €2.9 billion in supporting the provision of special education, a 48 per cent increase since 2020;

- the increase in the allocation of Special Education Teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to support children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in our schools;

- the strategic initiatives introduced to provide for the continued accelerated delivery of special class places in mainstream schools and special school places, with the number of special classes having doubled over the last five years and 16 new special schools being established;

- the work being progressed to provide up to another 400 new special classes and 300 additional special school places for the coming school year, to ensure that every child known to the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has an appropriate school place;

- the significant investment in the expansion of staffing at the NCSE to assist families of children with SEN in all aspects of their educational journey, including accessing a placement appropriate to their needs;

- the ongoing engagement between the NCSE, the Department of Education, school patron bodies, school management bodies and schools, in relation to the forward planning of special education provision, which has yielded additional classes in every county at primary- and post-primary level in recent years;

- the enactment of the Education (Provision in Respect of Children with Special Needs) Act 2022, which provides a power to compel schools to make additional provision for children with SEN and for the NCSE to direct schools to admit children with SEN;

- the establishment of the D15 Taskforce to support forward planning for special education provision in the area, and to support the trial of a common application system for special classes;

- the introduction of a new pilot to reinstate therapy services onsite in special schools, and the commitment in the Programme for Government to provide for an education led therapy service for special schools;

- the funding provided for the training and upskilling of teachers and SNAs who support children with SEN;

- the expansion of the Summer Programme, which has seen the number of children participating increase by 150 per cent since 2020;

- that the extensive review by the Department of Education of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 is nearing completion;

- the establishment of a new SNA Workforce Development Unit by the Department of Education;

- the ongoing investment in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity In Schools programme, to support schools and students at risk of educational disadvantage; and

- the renewed focus of the Government on the area of disability services, with a particular focus on improving the delivery of services for children with disabilities; and

calls on the Government to:

- take any necessary steps to ensure that every child who needs a special educational place has access to one in a timely manner;

- continue to expand the number of special school places, special classes and special education teaching hours as required across the State;

- improve communication and outreach to parents of children with SEN, to streamline the process by which parents apply for specialist school places, reducing the burden on them and improving the timelines, including the introduction of a common application procedure;

- continue to increase investment into the area of Special Education, to ensure that every child can reach their full potential;

- support additional schools and students to benefit from the Summer Programme; and

- ensure the NCSE will continue to engage intensively with parents and all educational partners to continue to increase capacity.".

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter and the range of issues contained in the motion this evening. I acknowledge the families who are here. I know the families and children the Deputies are referring to. They are my friends, family and constituents, and I know just how difficult it is for parents, mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings of parents, siblings of the children we are talking about who are trying to access school places, the stress, heartache and devastation when there are 20 applications put in and there is no school place available and it does not happen at the same time as their sibling. That is why I am determined, working with the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, to move heaven and earth, as the Deputies have said, to put in place whatever we can to make sure that, not just this year, those who need school places can get them at the earliest stage possible and they can plan going to school in the same way every other child can. I am determined to ensure we continue to invest and put in place the resources needed to plan, not just for this year, but beyond that. I do not think it is fair to say that we do not care, that there has not been work done here or that nobody sees this as a priority. This has been a priority, and not just for this Government and the previous Government. It is because of that focus and investment that there has been significant investment in special education in recent years. There are 250,000 children with special educational needs accommodated in our mainstream schools with supports. In addition, 28,000 children are in either a special class or special schools. Since 2020 alone, the number of special classes and schools has grown significantly. I am not saying it is where it needs to be. We have a huge amount more work to do, but it has gone from more than 1,800 to 3,735. That will be the case by the end of this year because we have committed to opening 400 new classes. At the same time, 16 special schools have been established. Again, I am not saying this is where we need to be, but this is important as these are the first schools to be opened in more than 20 years.

Significant overall funding has also been provided, to the point where more than one quarter - almost one third - of our budget is now allocated specifically to children and young people with special educational needs. Do we need to do more? Absolutely. I intend to make sure that budget increases. We have also seen an important increase in the number of special educational teaching and special needs assistant posts, to more than 44,000 by the end of this year, which is again a significant increase. The sector continues to grow, and it thankfully continues to be a career choice for many new and established teachers. I want to make sure they have the levels of support, training and guidance available in many avenues, whether in initial teacher training, making sure that is part of their initial training irrespective of whether they are going to work in specialist classes or in special schools, through professional learning, NCSE specific training or through education support services. In addition, we see our SNA workforce expand and upskill. Work continues on the workforce development plan for SNAs, which is due to be launched in September and will introduce policy developments to give greater clarity, support and direction through the SNA service.

While I quote these figures, behind them are children and young people. However, it is important to stress and outline that there has been a huge amount of investment, a huge focus in this area and there is more work we want to do. The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and I have met with the National Council for Special Education to outline our clear intention for those new special classes to make sure every child and parent gets offered those places as quickly as possible. To be clear, we expect to see results on the huge amount of investment that has gone into the NCSE over the past number of years, which has allowed it to increase its overall staff number and has allowed us to increase the number of SENOs and to reduce down the areas. We expect every SENO to know what their schools are, who their principals are and who are the parents they are dealing with, in order that they can expand on the support they provide to them and on the fantastic work so many of them are already doing in the community. They too will play a significant part when it comes to enrolment and making sure there is one route for parents.

There is also substantial work being done to make sure we expand on our special classes. As I have said, 400 more will be added this year for the coming school year. However, I accept that while there is spare capacity in the system, the problem is that capacity is not always where parents want to enrol their child. My Department and the NCSE are working on this. It is important that we do not say we have a space available but it is two hours away, as the Deputies have mentioned. We need to make sure those spaces, classrooms and supports are as close as possible to the children who need them. It is only right and proper that these supports are provided at a local level insofar as possible and, where possible, in that local school, but also where their siblings are going to school. It is really important that is part of our objectives and priorities as well to ensure children grow up as part of their local school community and environment and that this forms part of our overall vision for an inclusive education system. I know this can be a stressful time for parents when seeking a school place and there is a huge administrative burden placed on parents' shoulders in this regard.

We all know the Dublin 15 area in particular has been highlighted in recent months, as there has been a significant increase in population growth. A significant number of parents experienced difficulties in securing special places last year. Many of them applied to numerous schools, and I know that is replicated right across the country. We have set up a number of initiatives to respond to the issue and I hope that, through the task force and these initiatives, this solution can be replicated and all children and parents can benefit from it. This includes the NCSE reaching out to schools earlier to establish where there is potential for capacity, providing parents a central email address to provide information such as reports, specialist recommendations to the NCSE and the establishment of a task force committed to examining more practical solutions for parents.

While the task force is currently examining the Dublin 15 area, where barriers and problems exist when looking to access school places, and is looking for those practical solutions I have mentioned, it is intended the work will then expand and apply to all parts of our country.

This Government will support parents by introducing that common application procedure. This has the potential to be an absolute game-changer for parents and for children with special educational needs. Working with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, I intend to prioritise work in this area. We will work very closely with the NCSE, our SENOs and all of those who are responsible for supporting parents, children and families in accessing educational spaces and for ensuring they are provided and that this is done in a timely manner. This new common application system is being trialled in Dublin 15. I hope it will relieve the administrative burden by allowing parents to submit one application to many schools. Again, this is about providing practical solutions, reducing stress and doing so in a timely manner. It is about planning and preparing and ensuring that every single child is being treated equally. No matter where they are from, their background or their geography, they should be treated equally and have access to the educational place they deserve and every support to ensure they achieve their full potential. The task force is due to report its recommendations in the coming months and any actions and recommendations arising from it will be fully supported by my Department and the NCSE. We will be meeting with the task force to discuss this further.

On forward planning, of the 3,336 special classes nationwide, 2,339 are at primary level and 997 are at post-primary level. In October 2022, in anticipation of the increase in demand at post-primary level, my Department wrote to all post-primary schools requesting that each school begin planning to provide for up to four special classes to meet the needs of children progressing from primary school. Just last year, my Department issued a circular to all schools setting out new measures to support that forward planning of special education provision. Included in this circular was a reminder of the need for post-primary schools to continue planning for this level of provision. In addition, to support this forward planning work, the circular set out a number of new measures to support the work of the NCSE and schools in providing these new special classes. These measures include more streamlined funding for the refurbishment of available accommodation to provide special classrooms and funding to provide for new classrooms, whether modular, new-build or extensions to older accommodation.

As I have said and will continue to stress, it is an absolute priority for this Government, for me and for the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, to ensure that every child has an appropriate school place in a timely manner. For this September, the NCSE has visited a significant number of schools to help ascertain where provision can be accommodated in those schools. These visits have resulted in over 400 formal requests issuing to schools requesting them to open a special class for 2025-26. A total of 181 new special classes have already been confirmed and the NCSE is engaging intensively with the remaining schools, boards of management and patron bodies to ensure that additional special classes are confirmed as quickly as possible. This year, the NCSE has focused on medium to large primary schools that currently have no special classes but that may have available space within their school building. Sanctioning classes in these schools ensures that more options are available to parents when seeking a special educational placement and that options remain in centralised locations. We have also provided the NCSE with statistical data on schools with falling enrolments or in areas with falling demographics. Incorporating these schools ensures that schools can utilise current staffing arrangements but also that classes can be established quickly as existing accommodation can be reconfigured in a more streamlined and efficient manner.

I acknowledge that we are starting from a low base but it is not fair to say nothing has happened or that this is not a priority. We are absolutely committed to making sure that the progress that has been made continues and, most importantly, that all children get the support and the access to education they need.

Deputy Máire Devine

In Crumlin, in Dublin South-Central, the Dublin 12 autism group, a grassroots organisation of exhausted mammies, has through hard slog, tenacity and dogged determination showed up the abject failures of those tasked with providing an education for children with extra needs. Education is the only right guaranteed by this State. Unfortunately, a lack of understanding and cohesive policy in the face of an obvious need has resulted in underinvestment and a paucity of services and supports that leaves many children way behind and abandoned. I have worked with the Dublin 12 autism group. Their vision, hopes and dreams for their children's futures spurred them on to become warriors and to achieve the opening of Scoil Eoin in Crumlin, which is bursting at the seams. It has become a safe place to learn, to grow and to belong. Why has a governmental comprehensive research plan not been enacted? The Government has left it up to the mammies to lead. The building and its facilities are not ideal, although they are better than in some other places. For example, occupational therapy is held in the hallways. Despite this, the school has given children and parents a haven and a base near home so that they can belong in their community, know it and be nurtured as future leaders of that community. It is their right.

Why has this not been replicated throughout the country for the rights of all of our children? Where are the additional need essential autism classes? Where are the special school places? When will teachers be trained as part of their college degrees? They should do work experience in autism classes and special schools. A brief workshop is not sufficient. A shortage of teachers has a significant detrimental effect here in Dublin. It impacts resource teachers in particular. Transport buses are unreliable. Services are frequently cancelled, leaving children unable to attend school if it is located away from the family's home area. This disruption affects the entire family. Mainstreamed autistic children need support as well. Each mainstream class should have a full-time SNA. Children are left with unsatisfactory home schooling or drastically reduced hours. We must invest in them and in our staff.

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

I thank my colleague, Deputy O'Rourke, for bringing this motion forward this evening. I represent one of the youngest constituencies in this State. There is an urgent and desperate need for more spaces for kids with additional needs in Dublin Fingal West. I want to talk to the Minister about Kaylen. Kaylen is a lovely bright five-year-old boy. His mam is Jodie and he lives in Balbriggan. In 2022, Kaylen was diagnosed with ASD and GDD along with other delays deemed severe. Kaylen is currently non-verbal but he is as mischievous as anything. He is a very lovely child. Kaylen currently attends an ASD preschool. It is his last year there. In preparation for that, his mam has applied to 14 schools with autism classes and to two special schools. She says:

He has gotten 12 refusals from schools so far and also refused from the 2 special schools as the reports I have for Kaylen don’t specifically say they recommend a special school. To get this report I must get a new cognitive assessment, which costs anywhere from €800. In September 2024 I had to pay for an up to date educational report, which cost €200.

This is money people do not have but must spend for a very basic entitlement the Minister should be providing for their children. Of eight primary schools in Balbriggan, only four have autism classes. Jodie, Kaylen's mam, says:

My son and all children like my son deserve better than this. They have a right to an education. All of the hard work and effort Kaylen has done in his ASD preschool will be undone should he be at home with me for months or up to a year again. It is apparently ‘compulsory’ for a child that is 6 years of age to go to school. If my child was neurotypical and I wasn’t sending him to school, social services would be at my door and rightly so. However, because my child is neurodivergent, has different educational needs, I as a parent must scramble along with other parents to get 1 place that’s on offer in a school?

My child has been let down in every sense of the word from this State. He was let down in receiving developmental checks that were constantly cancelled ... He was let down in receiving services & therapies I was told are CRUCIAL to his development.

It is now in the Minister's hands to say whether or not Kaylen will be let down once again.

Deputy Martin Kenny

I commend Deputy O'Rourke on bringing forward this motion this evening. Like every other Deputy in this House, I have been inundated with people and families who face a terrible situation. They have children who need a special class or accommodation but cannot get it anywhere. Everywhere I go across the whole west of Ireland, Leitrim, Sligo and Donegal, I come across children who are travelling from one end of the country to the other.

Children are going from County Cavan to County Leitrim and from County Leitrim to County Sligo. They are travelling 70 km or 80 km to get an appropriate school place. This criss-crossing throughout the country because they cannot anywhere near them is something that drives people mad.

The Minister mentioned that she knows and has experience of these families. I am sure she has. I do not doubt her sincerity but I have to doubt her commitment. She and her colleagues have been 14 years in government. Most of these children were not born then, and she has been in government that long, yet we are in this diabolical situation. She has to step up to the mark and ensure that these places are provided. At the end of the day, families who have a child with special needs who needs special education have a huge burden to carry. We all know and understand that. The last thing they need is to have to fight for everything, yet that is their experience. Their experience of this State is that it is one where they have to fight every day of their life. They get up in the morning and they have to fight to get an assessment of needs to find out what is wrong with their child and to get appropriate accommodation, whether it is in school, the HSE or whatever. Everything they do is a battle. It is battle after battle after battle. Is that the kind of State we should be proud of? I do not think so. After 14 years in government, that is the kind of State that has been created. The Government needs to cop on and recognise that we cannot go on the way we have. We have to recognise that these children are a reflection of the whole society we live in. If we cannot look after the weakest and most vulnerable in our society, then who can we look after?

I appreciate that the Minister said, although words are cheap and are very cheap in this place, she would do something about this and that she is committed to it. We bloody well need to see it because those families out there cannot go on like this for any longer. The children in this State deserve to get fair play. That is all they are asking for and not to have to get up every morning and battle and fight for what they are entitled to.

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú

Appropriate school places, particularly for those children with special needs, has to be a priority. I agree with the Minister on that, but the fact is we are now dealing with what has been an abject failure for children and families. It has been stated by many already that we have all been contacted over many years by frustrated parents who cannot get their kids into school places. I have dealt with many who have spoken about their kids and the criteria. Whether it is for mainstream, autism units or special schools, they are told their child's intellectual disability, ID, may be too high or too low, and it is not even sure that the child will fit criteria anywhere. We are dealing with multiple failures and issues.

As regards school places, I welcome the fact the Minister spoke about departmental and NCSE engagement with schools and making sure there are spaces. I have spoken to many principals who talked about their engagement with the Department's school building unit. They talk about huge issues and providing the information, but the information does not come back in time. There are issues relating to planning, which rarely occur at a local authority point. However, the management of this used to be in the gift of schools but is not always, so at times this pushes it back and back. We all celebrate tiny victories at times when two or three kids, or possibly four or five, and it is sometimes only one, get into a particular school. You at least know that a family, parent and child will be sorted. The issue is many more are absolutely failed over a significant period.

The common application system makes sense. It needs to be operated. I introduced legislation in the previous Dáil term, which I will reintroduce. It is the Education (Amendment) Bill. The idea is that parents with kids with disabilities will be able to apply two years ahead. This is so the school and everyone else can get all their ducks in a row and we could ensure that the supports are there. We have to stop talking about the fact that we are expanding the school inclusion model. We need to make sure it is rolled out across the board. The failure in respect of assessments and therapies can only be sorted by putting the resource where the need is, which is for therapies and assessments to happen in schools.

Deputy Eoghan Kenny

I congratulate the Minister and the Minister of State on their appointments. I know the Minister of State on a personal level. He is hard-working and a man of integrity for the constituents of Cork North-West. I am sure that will be the same in his new role in the Department. I congratulate him.

I welcome this motion from Sinn Féin and the opportunity to raise the issues and concerns relating to special education. The Labour Party will support the motion. When it comes to special educational needs, we have a cohort of students throughout the entire country who do not have the same access to education as their friends, neighbours, siblings and members of their own family. For parents in Ireland whose children have additional needs, it is more than likely the case that they are travelling long distances in the morning and afternoon to get to and from school. That begs the question of how to integrate children with additional needs into their communities, which is the best possible thing we can do for those children. If a child has to travel an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening to go to and from school, it is not possible to integrate that child into their community. It is just not possible. I have serious difficulty with that, as do many parents throughout the country. I have great empathy and sympathy with those parents and children.

In the recent general election campaign, my party campaigned on an autism guarantee to secure an appropriate school place for every child and develop a fully inclusive model of education that vindicates the right to education for all children across a range of disabilities, and complies with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. To realise this means better long-term planning, multi-annual funding, and an overhaul of the EPSEN Act. It also means the use of ministerial power because that is something I cannot get out of my head. As a secondary school teacher for the past two years, and as someone who came out of school five years ago, I could never understand how Ministers never used their power to give our schools the opportunity to facilitate children with additional needs in their own localities. It is almost as if the Minister has no power in the Department. I call on the Minister and the Minister of State to take that power and give those children that opportunity.

One parent in my constituency of Cork North-Central has applied to ten different schools. I am putting this on the record of the Dáil again, but it is no harm to do so. She is second on the waiting list for the tenth school. She received the opportunity of going to a school, after applying, that is nearly an hour and a half away from her home. She said to me on the phone the other day that she feels absolutely obliged to take the place. That should not be the case in the country we live in. When I spoke to her on the phone, I genuinely felt such sympathy and empathy towards her feeling obliged to take the place. She has never even seen the school or heard of it but felt obliged to take the place. That is just completely unacceptable.

Schools have been losing out. Disability advocacy organisations and DPOs must be part of the process when developing new policy initiatives. It is essential that we get the people who are working in the field to be part of the policy initiatives we want to change. It is very simple. We need to see an expansion of the educational therapy support service through the NCSE, more in-school therapists and the provision of better training for teachers during their teaching degree. I did four years in Mary Immaculate College to train as a secondary school teacher. I got little or no training in special educational needs. That is where we need to begin it. If somebody goes to college for four years to train to be a secondary school teacher - this is nothing on the college and I am a proud graduate from Mary Immaculate College - we need to start there. If we are to train teachers and fully equip them to deal with children with additional needs, we need to start with teachers who are in training. It is as simple as that. The Department has to realise that.

We need to see investment in child-centred SNA provision. We need to value SNAs throughout the country. I am privileged to say that I worked with countless SNAs who go completely unnoticed in the work they do in this country. We should get rid of the 72-hour obligation and provide training to the QQI level 6 equivalent. We need to undertake an autism audit of all schools and provide autism CPD training to school staff to ensure that mainstream schools can facilitate the inclusion of autistic children to the greatest extent possible.

Ireland has ratified the optional protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities but children's disability network teams remain underfunded and understaffed.

The Government's own disability services action plan stated 180 new CDNT posts and 300 therapy assistants were essential in 2025 to progress the disability services programme to meet the commitments in the roadmap for disability service improvements for children and young people.

We are acutely aware that over 10,000 children are waiting for an assessment of need, and tens of thousands of children are waiting for essential therapies. This is unacceptable. The delays are having genuine knock-on effects on children going into education. If by the age of eight, nine, ten or 11, children have not received a proper assessment or the proper therapies they so badly needed in early-years education, including junior and senior infants, it is a significant issue. They may be in secondary school before they receive them. It is just not good enough. Let me give an example. In 2016, phase 2 of a development at Scoil Oilibhéir, Dublin Hill, in the constituency of Cork North-Central, which I represent, was given the opportunity to progress in the Department of Education. Not a single block has been laid. That school, a special school in Cork city, has been let down. Additional accommodation in existing schools, be they mainstream or special, is absolutely necessary. I am disappointed that the Department has failed schools and children across the country in this way. The accommodation is not forthcoming.

Therapy is not an optional extra; it is essential to the development and well-being of children with additional needs. The State is failing the affected children. Enacting meaningful change is the only way forward.

Deputy Mark Wall

I wish the Minister and Minister of State well in their new briefs. I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this important motion.

The lack of special school places in my area, Kildare South, continues to grow. Not a week goes by when I do not get contacted time and again by worried parents who simply cannot find a place for their loved ones. It was in late 2023 that the then Minister of State, Josepha Madigan, announced that four new special schools would be established the following September, in Limerick, Meath, Wexford and South Kildare. When I questioned her in the Seanad at the time, she said the announcement was in response to increasing number of students with learning needs. The announcement was that the new schools would cater for approximately 120 young children with autism and complex learning needs, initially up to 18 years of age, and gradually increase the numbers over the following years. The announcement was greeted with much joy by many parents in Kildare South and, indeed, the other counties I mentioned.

We all expected the school to be located in Kildare South but it was actually opened in Kildare North, in Naas, leaving the families in Kildare South without a school once again. I am pleased to learn the school is up and running and doing very well. I wish the staff there very well, but it is already full and we still do not have a special school in Kildare South.

That brings me to the biggest problem, namely the crisscrossing that must be done by families and their loved ones. This has been mentioned here before in colleagues' speeches. I am aware of people who travel from Dublin to Kilkenny and South Kildare and people who travel from Kilkenny and South Kildare to Dublin. It takes two or three hours in a bus. Since it takes such a long time, the young person is barely awake when he or she comes home.

I welcome the common application process that the Minister mentioned. I brought this up with the previous Minister for Education because I believe SENOs need to be doing more. They need to be helping the affected families. I am aware of a family who have rung 47 different schools. I have spoken to the family and know what they are going through, including the stress.

I was recently told by a principal in Newbridge, which in my area, that the average waiting list for a special school place has 32 families. This means 32 families waiting on a space for their loved ones. Progress just cannot happen quick enough for them. Imagine the stress they are going through. We need to do more.

I congratulate the teachers who work in this space. They go above and beyond. I refer in particular to the SNAs, who do a tremendous job day in, day out. The relationships they form with the children who need special education are to be welcomed and celebrated. More needs to be done for the SNAs, given the job they do day in, day out.

Deputy George Lawlor

I join Members in wishing the Minister and Minister of State well in their new portfolios.

We have a chronic situation with regard to special education in Ireland. The lack of places means missed milestone after missed milestone. This is a fundamental human rights issue that has affected countless children and their families. The affected children are plagued by insufficient resources and investment and a huge lack of trained professionals.

The children's carers and parents are trying to navigate more than one system. The are drained, exhausted and disillusioned. The families of the children in special education are dealing with more than one failed assistant. Let me give an example from CHO 5, which includes Wexford, my country, and also Waterford, Carlow-Kilkenny and south Tipperary. The children there and their families were dealing with the early intervention teams and were transferred to the new children's disability network in 2021, with all the bells, whistles and promises that came with the establishment of the teams. However, four years later, an unbelievable number of children, 700, and their families have yet to receive any contact whatsoever from their CDNT. Then they enter a school system that does not have the places or resources. Indeed, some of the children have aged out, or got to the age of 18, and are not in a position to access any of the services they required.

It is our duty in this Chamber to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves. I am told that if one gets an assessment of need today, having waited for a couple of years, it will be mid-2028 by the time one is actually seen by the services. The Ombudsman for Children's Office stated in September 2024 that 126 children with a special-needs place requirement were without a place. Budget 2025 provides funding for 400 special classrooms, which is to be welcomed, but as the Ministers can detect, there is no confidence that they will be provided. We absolutely owe it to the children to do everything in our power to provide them with what they now require, because it is now that they require the places. Their families and carers also require them. The exhaustion the families are suffering is palpable. It is no longer acceptable that the children of this nation, whom we are supposed to be cherishing as per our Proclamation, are suffering daily as a result of the inaction and lack of investment in this area. I urge the Minister to move on this as urgently as possible.

Deputy Alan Kelly

I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, who I know has a very special interest in this area, well. I also wish the Minister, Deputy McEntee, well.

In the very short amount of time available to me, I want to make just a few points. When I started off in politics, approximately 20 years ago, the number of people who came to me about this issue was minuscule. Now in my clinics, I must deal with eight stages when it comes to interventions for children with autism. Primary education is around stage 4. The volume of people coming to me, not just in advance when looking for a school place but also all year round, is noteworthy. There is a complete disconnect between the NCSE, the Department of Education and SENOs. Parents should not be ringing schools. There needs to be an holistic approach, planned well in advance, for all the children. Since the data exist, why can we not do what is required? That we cannot is beyond me. There is no consistent approach when it comes to the NCSE and SENOs. I deal with a number of those concerned myself. The inconsistent approach is a genuine issue.

Some good news was announced recently with regard to two ASD classes in my old school, St. Joseph's CBS, Nenagh, and also with regard to a special school. The principal of Corville National School, Roscrea, was on to me last week. That school, which has two ASD units, was one of the first. It wants a third unit but is being told there is no funding. There is a waiting list for children whose parents wish to place them in the school. Many of the children have siblings in it. For me, what is happening does not make sense because the school should be facilitated after having done all the work. The critical issue concerns consistency of approach and planning. Planning should be done years in advance because we have the data. I work very closely with the A-Team in Nenagh, an incredible organisation that does so much work. Its frustration level when it comes to this issue is palpable. I am totally with it on that.

Deputy Liam Quaide

I welcome the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, and congratulate them on their appointments. The area of special educational needs and disability involves so much frustration, worry and stress and unnecessary daily hardship for families, as well as so much discontinuity and inconsistency of care and rehabilitation, that it is difficult to know where to focus. As I said in an earlier contribution today on mental health, it is imperative for the Minister to engage intensively with the key stakeholders here, who are the families at the centre of the crisis and the clinicians and the teaching staff supporting them. These staff members are often under enormous and unsustainable stress in overstretched services.

I spoke to a parent of an autistic child last night about the key challenges he sees within services. His first response was the lack of forward planning. This man and his wife, who live in Youghal, feel very fortunate that their son, who is nonverbal, has been offered a place in a special class in their local primary school. There are six children in the class supported by two special needs assistants and a teacher. The school is near where they live and the boy's parents and siblings can drop in briefly to soothe him in times of emotional or sensory overwhelm. Some of the children in the school will have integration time in the mainstream school that the autism class is part of, and there is reverse integration in the autism class for pupils of the mainstream school. The family have experienced great relief and peace of mind as a result of this special school placement and they are deeply appreciative of the consistent support and attunement of staff to their son's needs. They are also keenly aware, however, that other families are having to travel outside their communities for this basic provision.

Overall, the experience of primary education is going well for this family. However, the lead-up to being granted that school place was a time of major trepidation as it was far from guaranteed due to the level of need out there.

Looking ahead to secondary school options, the picture is far more uncertain and anxiety-provoking for this family. The two nearest suitable placements would be in Dungarvan or Carrigtohill. Both involve significant travel time and disconnection of that boy from his local community. As things stand, both these schools are oversubscribed, so other options the family may have to consider would be as far away as Waterford city or Rochestown in Cork. The additional travel time with bus transfers would involve chronic stress loaded upon so many other challenges for this boy and his parents, and we all know that transitions from primary to secondary school can be difficult in the best of circumstances.

This family's experience of assessment and therapies for their son has been sorely lacking. They had to pursue a private autism assessment at significant financial cost. They saw their son benefit from six sessions of occupational therapy within primary care services, only for his case to be referred into the abyss of the local children's disability network team waiting lists. They have had no therapies through the CDNT since that referral, which was exactly two years ago.

It is really important to say at this point that any analysis of the failings in disability services needs to acknowledge that there are huge issues of burnout and low morale among staff and, consequently, poor retention of staff. They are often working in services that have been hollowed out in respect of staff provision and are dealing with unmanageable waiting lists. When parliamentary questions are piling in about these waiting lists, the stress of senior managers is being passed on to them and many are leaving services despite being passionate about their work. This crisis of morale within a broader disability service crisis requires urgent attention from HSE management.

I really encourage the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, to engage with clinicians who are leaving CDNTs to get their perspective on the problems within services that have escalated since the roll-out of the progressing disability services programme. I also encourage him to engage on an ongoing basis with SNAs, teachers and principals as much as he engages with senior management of services.

The man I spoke to last night is part of a group of parents in Youghal who have started a campaign for the creation of more specialised second level autism classes in their locality. They are having to devote considerable energy to engaging with public representatives and navigating a complex bureaucratic system for a basic educational provision to meet their children's needs. For some of these parents, the window of time they have before their child requires a post-primary place will be short. As is the case in so many parts of our society and public services, we have economic prosperity like never before but we are not getting the basics right. In the area of disability and special educational needs, the consequences of not getting the basics right can chain-react through a person's development and can be cumulatively devastating for families.

The story of the family I have outlined is not an isolated case and, in fact, they consider themselves much more fortunate than some other parents of children with special needs. These families are at the mercy of a disjointed patchwork of a support system for young people with special needs. As immense as these problems are, we must not be given over to a counsel of despair which will lead to further fragmentation and privatisation of services. The crisis in special educational needs and disability service provision is resolvable through reform that is driven by meaningful and sustained engagement with the families and the front-line staff who are at its epicentre. The issues also demand much greater financial investment in special school provision and clinical staff.

Deputy Jen Cummins

I congratulate the Minister and the Minister of State on their appointments and wish them the very best of luck. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion on special education. I fully support it. It is time now for the State to take urgent action to ensure that every child has access to the education they deserve and have a right to receive. I have heard so many stories across my constituency of Dublin South-Central, as others here have outlined from their own constituencies, about families struggling to secure school places for their children with additional needs. Last night I spoke to a mother who is part of the Dublin 12 autism group. It has identified that there are five children in the area who have not got a secondary school place for this year. The number might not seem huge, but it is massive to those families not to have a school place when their children have been in primary school and now are going into secondary school. Forward planning really needs to be ensured to avoid this. It is not acceptable, it is avoidable, and we need political will and forward planning.

One of the most pressing challenges we face is the recruitment and retention of teachers, as other contributors have said, across our education system but in particular to support children with additional educational needs. We are just not moving fast enough to qualify teachers. The Teaching Council process is very slow as well, acting as a barrier rather than a bridge for teachers who want to work in our system. Many teachers from abroad who are highly qualified and eager to contribute arrive in Ireland only to find themselves stuck in an administrative limbo. We therefore urgently need reform of the Teaching Council's recognition of registration process for those teachers who can enter classrooms without unnecessary delays.

There also needs to be appropriate and full training for teaching staff that starts with the initial teaching education at undergraduate and then at postgraduate level, as well as continuous professional development through the teaching career. Expecting teaching staff to be able to appropriately support students with additional needs without training is not acceptable and it is unfair to everyone, both the teaching staff member and the child and their family.

Alongside teacher recruitment, we also must prioritise the expansion of school infrastructure. A prime example is the case of Social Democrats councillor, Lesley Byrne, who is principal of Clogher Road Community College, in Dublin 12. She has expressed clear willingness to expand the special education classes. She has been in contact with the National Council for Special Education to make this happen, but the reality is that she and many other principals lack the space to do so. The schools therefore cannot create these much-needed classrooms because they physically do not have the space to accommodate them. We have to commit to funding the expansion of these special education classrooms in both existing and new school buildings.

The Government also needs to address the allocation of special needs assistants. These professionals play a vital role in our school community, ensuring that children with additional needs receive the support they require within the mainstream system where appropriate. It also helps with the child's development. Yet year after year we hear of delays in allocation and cases of children who need support but are left without it. The Government must increase SNA allocations and ensure that they are provided in a timely manner to schools.

Finally, we need to have an honest conversation about the role of private schools in special education provision. The burden of catering for children with additional needs falls disproportionately to the public school system, while many private schools, with their significant resources, do not take their fair share of the responsibility. This is not sustainable and not just. All schools, whether private or public, that receive State funding must provide appropriate support for children with additional needs.

Passing this motion would implement necessary solutions that would make tangible differences to the lives of children in Ireland. It is time for the Government to act decisively by speeding up teacher recruitment, prioritising infrastructure, increasing SNA allocations and ensuring all schools, including private institutions, play their part. Let us ensure that no child anywhere throughout the country - not just in Dublin South-Central - is left without a school place or left out, because that is their right under the Constitution.

Deputy Aidan Farrelly

I thank my colleagues in Sinn Féin for tabling this motion. I extend my best wishes to both the Minister and the Minister of State. I wish them the very best over this term. It is clear to see, and clear from what we have heard this evening, that they have inherited something of an emergency when it comes to special education.

I am here to advocate on behalf of parents, students, teachers, SNAs and the entire school community. I will tell the Minister why we have an emergency in front of us. It is because the people we are speaking about matter. They cannot afford to wait for the latest long-term visionary plan to be implemented. They cannot afford to live in hope a new classroom or extension is built in five to ten years. They cannot ignore the reality the system is under so much pressure that everyone involved is at the brink of breaking point all the time. I am not trying to sensationalise anything about this issue but these are not my words. They are those of the children, parents, principals, teachers, SNAs and entire school communities I have spoken to. Parents are tired and scared. They are worn out trying to navigate a system of care and education that seems designed to wear people down. Many are confused as to how they can do everything right only for the system to let them and their children down. There are six students in primary school who are due to finish next year and they already know they will not have a place in secondary school that is appropriate for them, and 2026 is 18 months away.

I have heard the message loud and clear from the entire school community, including principals, teachers and SNAs. They believe it boils down to resourcing. I noted the Minister’s opening comments about education being a career choice that is a really positive one and we are seeing that in the numbers. I echo that assertion completely, but there is a gap in research when it comes to retention, welfare and how teachers are in their jobs, certainly when it comes to special education, and we should not under-emphasise the stress and pressure on the resource as it is. There are simply not enough occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, psychologists, teachers and special needs assistants. We see this manifest in class sizes that are increasing, waiting lists being too long and cracks in the system becoming too wide. What meaningful steps is this Government going to take to address this? If we are in any way serious about inclusion then it is time for this Government to put its money where its mouth is. If we are in any way serious about inclusion we would actively seek to ensure every child in this State has a school place that is appropriate for their needs. We should emphasise that unless it is chosen home tuition should never be the solution. I received answers to parliamentary questions this week indicating close to 15% of children and young people waiting for CAMHS will wait for over a year. How can this be our reality?

The system for assessment and service provision is archaic and frankly an insult to the parents, teachers and aligned professionals who are trying in earnest to interact with it. We are talking about a sector of acronyms, including SET, SNA, CDNT, HSE, OT, SLT, CAMHS, NCSE and SENO. This Government needs to get to grips with this emergency now. The children and young people at home who do not have an appropriate school place or who languish on waiting lists for months and months need this Government now. The parents who are so worn out need this Government now. The entire school community needs this Government now. If we commit to nothing else but to meaningfully engage in a listening exercise with everybody involved then this motion will have been very worthwhile.

Deputy Ruth Coppinger

I am wondering why the NCSE is to spend up €100,000, reportedly, not on extra help for schoolchildren or on research but on researching why there is an exceptional increase in the demand for special education. It is quite incredible the council is going to outsource finding that out to a consultant. I will give the Minister some of the reasons now without her wasting the money. The reason for the increase in demand is massively increased awareness of neurodiversity, additional needs, disability, people asserting their rights and parents not being willing to put up with what previous generations had to, namely, having their children just dropping out or staying in school and therefore causing significant harm to themselves and potentially other people. This is not new. I have been campaigning for special education resources since about 2010. People have been looking for this for years.

I am not going to waste too much time on the programme for Government but it is lily-livered and vague on this issue considering what a massive issue this was in all the elections last year. It talks about how we must find teachers and we must have more classrooms. There were no quotas or targets. There was nothing. I have a bunch of letters here from sixth class in Castaheany Educate Together National School in Dublin 15. The school kids are writing about the teacher shortage. They see the impact it is having on them. Hansfield Educate Together Secondary School has a picture asking parents whether they can provide lodgings for teachers. We all know why teachers are going to Australia, Dubai and the UK. It is more profitable for them to do so. They cannot afford to live here.

I will speak about the Dublin 15 task force the Minister mentioned in her introduction. Parents had to go around printing large photographs of their children and putting them on election-size posters in our area prior to the local and general elections. They had to do that because they could not get places for their children. The previous Government decided to set up a task force in this area. The Minister says the task force will report in the next few months. We need school places right now and what has been identified is 104 applications. The Minister mentioned the task force is going to look at the barriers, but she and her Department are the biggest barrier. Schools have agreed to have autism and special education classes but they cannot get the funding from the Minister’s Government. It is the biggest barrier.

There is no need to investigate this any further. I will give an example. Danu Community Special School is the only special school in all of Dublin West. It promised places students for last September, but those kids are still sitting at home because the Minister’s Government has not sanctioned the funds for the buildings that school needs. Why is that school not getting the buildings it needs? A whole class, who were to be taken in last September, is sitting at home. These are children who are autistic and who have intellectual disabilities. Can the Minister imagine how cruel that is? The mothers who have been on to me are at their wits’ end. When will that building happen? Those students will not be in school this year. There is no way that building is going to suddenly appear unless the Minister pulls the finger out. We also need a second special school in Dublin West.

The task force also set up a centralised system, so parents are now being told children are not getting into any of the 13 schools in the centralised system. Did the Minister’s party set up that task force - her party had that Ministry - just to get parents off its back for the general election or did it actually mean it? I ask because it has no budget. It is identifying problems but then it does not have any budget to bring forward the extra spaces and the solutions. If that is not to be a talking shop it needs a budget.

Deputy Brian Stanley

Comhghairdeas to the Minister and Minister of State on their appointments. They have a big job ahead of them and I wish them well in it. The right of every child to access an education system is a fundamental one and the children in Laois and those attending St. Francis School in Portlaoise are no different from those anywhere else in the country. The school has 119 children with complex needs attending it and this school serves all of the county. There are 17 classes in what is a 12-classroom school. It is a newish school but it was too small the day it was built. The school has been promised four new classrooms and these are in planning at the moment, but there are going to take some time. It could take a few years and we need a shorter-term solution. The management and staff of the school have proposed two modular classrooms be provided. There is space onsite for it. I have been there twice with the principal and members of the board of management to look at this.

The shortage of places and suitable accommodation is preventing children with additional needs getting their education. St. Francis School has 12 children leaving this June but it has 45 children already assessed as being in need of attending the school. The maths are easy on this. There are about 33 children who do not have a place and I have letters from them. A letter came in this morning from Kristina about this. She cannot get her child in there. As the Minister will be aware, if a child is not accessing school at that crucial point in their development they are missing out on education and therapy, especially if the child has special needs.

The parents are at their wits' end. They are suffering extreme stress and worry from being told their child cannot be accommodated. The principal and staff at St. Francis School do not want to turn anyone away. It breaks their heart but they have to do it. They need these extra classrooms. I appeal to the Minister and Minister of State to approve the two modular classrooms. There is money to do so.

It is also important we consider children with special needs who are going into post-primary school this September who do not have places. The lack of forward planning of previous Governments has had a huge impact. There must be proper co-ordination with the National Council for Special Education, otherwise the fragmentation and inefficiency in the system will cause such problems. The bottom line is that I am asking the Minister and the Minister of State to grant the two modular classrooms for St. Francis School.

Deputy Paul Murphy

There is a major crisis in respect of school places coming down the line again. I hear words but I do not see action to avert that crisis. In 24 hours last week, I was contacted by four different families all in a panic. I was told by Elliot's parents in Celbridge that they had applied for the six relevant schools in their area with special classes and had received rejections from all six. They are in a panic because Elliot is currently in a special preschool and they can see the benefit of that to him and they worry about what will happen if he does not have that. Stephanie's daughter, Myla, is currently in Sacred Heart Junior National School, which has a special class. She can see the benefit of that, but she is looking ahead to going into the senior side where there is no special class. What is going to happen to Myla in that scenario? Michelle's son, Charlie, is in precisely that situation. He is in Sacred Heart Senior National School where there is no special class or special teacher and only one SNA who is effectively playing the role of teacher. I have raised Charlotte's daughter, Cyra, multiple times in the previous Dáil term. This time she has applied for 25 schools, of which 22 have rejected her application and she is waiting on a response from three. I met with Anita this evening, who is in the Public Gallery with many other parents, whose son, Leighton, needs a special school place but does not currently have one. He is, therefore, in a mainstream school. Anita is called regularly into the school to change her son's nappy on the floor. I met with Erika, whose son, Marley, has Down's syndrome and autism. She has applied for 12 different schools and has received no acceptances or places for September. I met with Sarah whose daughter, Abi-Leigh, was first down for an assessment of need when she was one and a half. She is now almost five. She has applied to schools and is being told that without the assessment of needs, she is not going to get a place. The assessment of needs is coming, but it is going to be too late for the application process. We could go on and on. There are literally thousands of other parents in a panic because the applications are happening right now and they do not know whether they are going to get an appropriate place for their children.

While it is welcome that the Minister and the Minister of State are here and are staying for the whole debate, I wish to ask, and it was asked multiple times, whether they will meet these parents. Will they hear their stories, actual experiences and what their problems actually are?

While it is welcome to hear the Government saying there will be 400 extra special classes in September, I do not see it. I do not hear the plan to make that happen. I do not hear where the teachers, the 800 SNAs or the buildings for some of these special classes are going to come from. The reality on the ground does not suggest a different approach in actually putting the necessary resources in.

There is one special school, which I will not name, that both the Minister and the Minister of State have been contacted about. The Department has been contacted about it repeatedly. The conditions in the school are nothing short of shameful. While the teachers are very devoted, as of course are the parents, the conditions in the school are horrendous. There are no proper toilets in reality, concrete is coming up from the floor and there is no accessibility or sensory room in what is a special class. These are horrendous conditions and the teachers are doing their best. The Department has refused invitations by the principal and the board of management to meet with them and is not providing them with resources.

The Government is very clearly in breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. The right of children to an education equal to others in their community is spelled out in it. The Government is in breach of it because it refuses to provide the resources or show the political will. We know what the answers are. The buck stops with the Government. If we are still in this situation in September, there is no shirking it. I ask the Minister and Minister of State to please meet with the parents.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion and I thank the parents who have come in and who are devoted to their children and to vindicating their children's rights. We are talking about their rights, both under Irish law to education and under the UNCRPD to equality and to be able to participate fully in society on an equal basis to every other child. The Government is failing children and parents who are at their wits' end and who are forced to come in here to have their voices heard. The Government is breaching their legal rights in a way that is potentially - this is what has parents at their wits' end with stress and anxiety - at the expense of their children's ability to fulfil their potential as human beings. That is what is at stake for parents and the Government is failing them. It is failing to provide enough teachers generally in education, enough special education teaching resources, enough special classes, enough SNAs and enough staffing in the CDNTs. One could go through the list of failures. Vulnerable children are paying the price. Parents are wracked with anxiety and stress from trying to do the best for their children, but they are up against a system that is completely dysfunctional.

This situation is incredible because we are a rich country and we have a thing called the census. I do not know whether the Government has ever heard of the census but it is a thing where you count how many people there are in the country. You know exactly how many children there are, so you can work out from the census how many children have special needs and disabilities and what resources are needed for them, and you plan for them. That is why we do the census. It is unbelievable that the Government is incapable of doing that in one of the richest countries in the world with massive budget surpluses. It cannot do the basic thing for vulnerable children.

A lovely couple visited me today with their seven-year old boy who had gone to the CDNT after eventually getting his assessment. They were told this week that their son needed an occupational therapist but that the CDNT did not have one. He, therefore, has been failed at that level. He needs that support to be able to integrate properly into the school environment. He needs a special class place but the boys school, which he is in, does not have that place, so he got a place in the girls school. However, the recommendation of the occupational therapist was that he should not be in the special class all the time and should integrate in and out. He cannot integrate in and out now because he is in the girls school rather than the boys school where he is supposed to be. That is just typical. Kids get assessments and are told they need this, that or the other. As Lankum’s lead singer discovered, if Members were reading the newspapers at the weekend, her daughter will receive the necessary services in 2028. That child has been failed like many hundreds and thousands of others. The Government has got to do better.

Deputy Richard O'Donoghue

I congratulate the Minister and the Minister of State on their roles and I look forward to working with them, but we are here again and it is no different than last year or the year before. We now have new people in charge of the Department but we are still looking for resources for special needs. The term "special needs" says it all. There is no doubt that gender and complex needs have been removed from the factors that set out allocations. There is a new modelling for the assessment. Twenty-five percent of the assessment for special needs relates to enrolment while 68.5% is based on test scores from pupils in second, fourth and six class.

The one that really beats me is that 6.5% is based on educational disadvantage and the address of pupils. Special needs can arise anywhere no matter what the address. Someone living in Dublin 4 can have special needs and someone living in Limerick can also have special needs. Why would this be part of a model for deciding where to get people to help with special needs? This discriminates against all rural schools. It discriminates against the most vulnerable people in this country whom we are trying to help.

I am a father and grandfather. If we can do anything to help our children, grandchildren or anyone in our area, we will do it. If these decisions are based on address, we are never going to get the proper funding put in place to help people with special needs. We will not get the resources or teachers because of the way these standards are done. The decision should be based on facts and the number of pupils in the school who need help, whether the school is large or small. Anyone who has a heart knows that is what has to be done. I have seen children go through years of school while waiting for assessments because the family does not have €1,700 to go and get an assessment. Money fixes everything. People can wait years if they go through the system. That discriminates against anyone seeking to have the same education as everyone else, as is their right. That is where the problem lies. We need to make sure the resources are given out equally.

Deputy Michael Collins

I congratulate both Ministers on their new positions and wish them the best.

There are nowhere near enough special school places or classes in west Cork in my constituency. In cases where teachers suspect a child may have autism, there is a wait of 27 months to get an assessment. This is a serious issue for families who are left in limbo for 27 or even 28 months. Imagine that. We find ourselves in an astonishing situation in which children are being denied the help they need at an early stage. This affects their education and mental and physical well-being.

Everything seems to be a fight for the most vulnerable people in society when they need help. Last year, children with special needs required a classroom in the local school in Bantry but they were refused. Parents had to take to the streets of Bantry to win their right to get a classroom for their children, which is terribly unfair. Not so long ago in Kilbrittain, it was announced the early intervention classroom would be closed down. Parents and teachers had to fight to keep it open. They won but everything is a battle. This should not be the case. We should make sure those people are cared for first and foremost. Well done to the teachers in the early intervention classroom in Kilbrittain, for which I fundraised some years ago.

While I could give many examples, much like other Deputies involving their constituencies, I will give just one. There is a young lad in primary school in Bandon who has poor handwriting skills and was referred to the HSE occupational therapist. After 12 months of waiting, he was seen and the OT recommended he have the use of an assistive technology to prevent him from falling behind his contemporaries. His father gave the assessment to the school only to be told the child would need to have an educational assessment. The school is only allowed one assessment for assistive technology per year. There are currently other students awaiting assessments and the lad may finish school without getting this assessment. That young boy is going to end up falling behind completely. That is the system we have right across the board.

I agree that we need to invest in recruitment and continuous professional development for teachers and special needs assistants to ensure they are supported and meet the diverse needs of students in special classes, including addressing the root causes of the recruitment and retention crisis in the education and disability sectors.

Deputy Ken O'Flynn

Congratulations to both Ministers on their appointments. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this motion before the House. Having listened to this debate for the past hour and a half, the stories being recounted by many of my colleagues are the same as the stories in Cork North-Central. Parents must fight a continuing battle to get an assessment for their children and procure places for them. They then have to battle with the Department of Social Protection for domiciliary care. I could go on.

I bring the attention of the House to one of my constituents who travels two hours and 40 minutes every day to bring her child to and from school. It takes me two hours and 43 minutes to travel from my house to Leinster House. The lady in question drives for that time every day to look after her child and ensure the child has a place. She goes from Ballincollig to Fermoy and back again while also trying to run a household, look after and care for her other children and provide for her family. That is what people are going through and it is not being addressed.

We have an old saying in life, nemo resideo, which means no one is left behind. We must ensure no child gets left behind. We must do and achieve more for our children in special needs and special needs education. This area is not being addressed. That is being echoed not just in my constituency but throughout this entire country. We must do better for the future of our children.

Deputy Paul Lawless

As recently elected TDs, we have all seen the pressing and urgent situation faced by many families. I have no doubt the Minister knocked on hundreds of doors, just as we did. We were met with challenging situations of parents and families trying to meet the needs of their children while managing work and family life and advocating for basic rights and the needs of their children. What struck me over the past number of weeks was that the Government moved earth to create more ministerial positions for its colleagues, yet we cannot show the same priority, urgency and creative, outside-the-box thinking for spaces in our schools and for National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, psychologists, speech and language therapists, teachers, etc. The shortage of NEPS psychologists has massive implications. That is shocking.

In one case that is very close to me, a 15-year-old boy has still not received a diagnosis. The teachers in his school were left to make a decision on which children to put forward for assessment. The case was made to put a younger boy forward because the 15-year-old had almost finished his schooling. Imagine that. This is what is happening in our schools on the ground.

There are also major issues with special educational needs co-ordinators in schools. This job has become very demanding. There has been a huge surge in the number of students in schools with additional language requirements. Teachers have to deal with this issue as well. It is causing major difficulties. Principals are looking for support and additional allocated hours so that we can help these vulnerable students to access supports and support the teachers who are helping them. This cannot be done, however, because many of these teachers are teaching full time and this role is an add-on. It is simply not good enough for the teachers who are working hard. I commend them. I know countless teachers and principals who are doing massive work. It is unacceptable that they are being left with such little support. I ask the Minister to consider providing allocating more hours to those teachers who are trying their best and encountering difficult situations while helping many families.

What did the Government do during the current teacher shortage? It added another year to the professional master in education, PME, course. Rather than taking four or five years to become a teacher, it now takes six or seven years. This needs to be looked at.

We all learn from what happens on the ground. It is really important that we look at that in the context of addressing the teacher shortage. It is also important to look at specific training for teachers in the special education sector.

I have met many people who care for vulnerable children and elderly adults. One wonderful lady who had taken time off work since the birth of her child spoke about how she had to give up her work, social life and hobbies. This woman did not get a cent from the State. The reason for this was because she was means tested on the strength of her husband's salary. Where is the respect and appreciation for this mother and the countless other women and fathers who do wonderful work? This should be examined. This is totally derogatory and unacceptable when it comes to the mother to whom I refer, who is doing Trojan work for her children, for society, for her community and for the economy. There is no regard for or appreciation of this wonderful person I met. I ask the Government to consider removing the means test immediately because it is unacceptable.

I also wish to bring the Government's attention to the knock-on implications for the pension gap. This is a major issue for so many. It affects women disproportionately. The major pension gap relating to carers in particular needs to be addressed. The auto-enrolment scheme is going to exacerbate the problem. People who take time out of work to care for the most vulnerable in our society should be valued by this State.

Deputy Paul Nicholas Gogarty

As I look around the Chamber, I see the busts of those involved in the 1916 Rising. The Proclamation of the Irish Republic resolved to cherish all children of the nation equally. This has been used before many times. It can almost become cliched at times, but it must be stated that in the area of special education, we are not cherishing children equally. Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities states:

States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to education. With a view to realizing this right without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity, States Parties shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and life long learning.

Ireland is lagging behind in this regard. In my constituency of Dublin Mid-West and other areas that have been mentioned, there are significant challenges that demand immediate attention. This year is the 21st anniversary of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act. Many of the main sections of that Act which would have benefited children with additional educational needs have not yet been implemented. An example in this regard is the provision of individual education plans.

The demand for special education placements continues to rise steadily. This year, the 2024-25 academic year, the special education teacher allocation model has been redesigned to provide more teaching hours for children with complex needs. Despite that, many children, particularly those with additional needs, still lack access to appropriate educational settings. As others have mentioned regarding their constituencies, I see parents in Dublin Mid-West in areas like Lucan and Clondalkin seeking special classes and autism units well outside the geographic areas in which they live. I welcome the fact that a special education school is being put in place in Lucan, but we are not doing enough. We must ask ourselves whether we cherish all children equally and whether we need to allocate more resources.

Minister of State at the Department of Education (Deputy Michael Moynihan)

I thank Deputies for tabling the motion before us. I welcome the parents in the Public Gallery. I also welcome the contributions that have been made so eloquently by Members across the House. I thank those who have wished us well in our endeavours.

I am delighted to have the role of Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion and to be working alongside the Minister for Education for the betterment of all. This is a role I cherish deeply, and I thank the Taoiseach for appointing me. It is a role to which I bring a significant amount of lived experience. I know full well the challenges that many families are facing on a daily basis in respect of the issues under discussion.

It is important that the issue of services for children with special educational needs is kept to the fore of Dáil proceedings at all times because this will ensure that together, across the House, the Government and society, we will deliver a better service. I listened carefully to the contributions of all Deputies. It is clear, as the Minister already outlined, that we need to continue to do more to ensure that the provision of new and additional special education placements happens earlier each school year.

The NCSE has confirmed that almost half of the 400 new special classes provided for in the coming school year have been sanctioned. It is working very closely with schools to confirm the remaining new special classes as soon as possible. I want this work to progress more quickly. It is crucial that engagement between school management bodies, the NCSE and the Department progresses as quickly as possible. Central to the current systems are co-operation and goodwill between all the partners in education. I pay particular tribute to school leaders, teachers, SNAs and all who work so hard in our school communities to make them better for children of all abilities.

The funding needed is in place and I am confident the capacity required will be provided. I will be working with my officials to ensure it is delivered as quickly as possible. As I outlined during a recent debate on the new programme for Government, over the entirety of my time as a public representative, I have always been interested in special education. As a public representative, I have met many parents over the years and assisted them with the application process. I took up this role knowing all too well the pain, anguish and frustration experienced by parents, families and entire communities. Parents often feel forgotten or ignored. They also sometimes feel they are not recognised for the challenges they face in their family lives. I say to those parents that I know the struggles they are facing and that it is one of my top priorities as Minister of State to ensure we have a system which works for parents and children. We must achieve a process whereby places become available in a timely manner. I will work to establish application timelines that will be the same as those which obtain for children with no additional needs who apply to mainstream schools.

This year, parents had to submit notifications to the NCSE by mid-February. This needs to happen earlier. We have to make sure we consider the matter further without putting extra pressure on parents to garner reports earlier as well. There is no point in changing the dates and putting more pressure on more families. We need to make sure the system is streamlined in order that there is less pressure on families and parents. Children should not be in a position of only being told in June where they are going to go to school in September. I have met parents and children at the school gate who have not known at the end of the school year in June where they will be going to school the following September. This is simply unacceptable. We have to ensure that it does not happen this year or in the future. We are all working hard to ensure that parents will know the special classes in their areas within the coming weeks. As the Minister noted, last week we had a very detailed meeting with the NCSE to identify where the challenges lie and how we can make sure there is action for families.

I am happy to work with Deputies across the House who have specific queries about individual children or specific schools in the context of special education. The Department and the NCSE will be happy to provide updates on these queries. The Minister spoke about the growth in the number of special education places, by way of special classes and new special schools, and in the number of special education teachers and SNAs.

It is important to recall that 97% of all children attending school today, including the majority of those with additional needs, do so in mainstream classroom settings. Those children are supported by the growing numbers of special educational teachers and SNAs.

My colleague from Cork made reference to teacher training. It is hugely important that we take note of that. The Minister and I both take recognition of that point. It is important that the challenges for teachers, as they are trained and come into the system, are met head-on and that those teachers are trained to do that.

The special places that will be available in September will only be made possible by the individual school leaders, the class teachers, the 15,000 special educational teachers and the 12,500 SNAs who work in mainstream classes. Some Members asked where we are going to get SNAs. Thankfully, we do not have a difficulty in recruiting SNAs. We have SNAs who are trained and willing to work. We must acknowledge the enormous contribution that SNAs are making to our educational process.

On special education and education for our most vulnerable children, we are going to have to put raw politics aside. We must all face this issue together. It is a national issue. There has been significant investment in the past while but more needs to be done. We are examining the need for therapists in special schools. There is a commitment in that regard in the programme for Government and we will work to ensure it is implemented. It is important that there are educational therapy supports in special schools. Building on this is the programme for Government's commitment to create a dedicated national therapy service.

I listened to all Members who brought forward the issues their constituents have brought to them. All of them are desperately genuine. In my time as a public representative, I have met and worked with families. We know the pain that all of those families have and the difficulty and frustration they experience every step of the way. I, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the whole of Government hope to ensure that we iron out the issues and ensure there are places for children with additional needs. We want that to happen earlier in the year to ensure we take the anguish away from parents. We must redefine how we are treating children who have additional needs and their families into the future. That is a top priority for me. In the programme for Government, disability services have been singled out as an issue on which we must make progress. Over the past five years, I had the honour of chairing the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, the membership of which comprised colleagues from across the House. We were the first parliament in Europe to have a disability matters committee. I listened at first hand to the challenges that exist not just for children but for people with disabilities from the cradle to the grave. We simply must do better in a timely manner. We must do better if we are, in all conscience, to honour what people have said before us about cherishing all people equally. I, along with my colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, will do what I can to ensure we have a better educational system for people with additional needs.

Deputy Seán Crowe

I listened to the Minister of State and wish him and the Minister well in their jobs. The Minister of State mentioned the parents in the Gallery. I am conscious that there are people here from Tallaght and the Dublin South-West constituency. Others are probably watching from home. I am conscious that there would have been many more parents here but for the fact that they cannot get out because of the lack of childcare facilities or someone to look after their children with special needs.

The area I represent has seen tremendous growth in the past 20 years but many of the services, especially in disability and special education for young people, have not kept up. It has gone very slowly and has not kept up. I know that from talking to families. Vulnerable children and their parents are being left behind.

There was mention earlier of a school in our constituency that does life-changing work for children with complex needs but the accommodation is not fit for purpose. It is not fit for the 21st century. I was deeply disturbed when I went there and saw the conditions that teachers are working in and children are experiencing. There were challenges all over the place. The Minister is aware of the situation and correspondence has being going back and forth with the school. Major works are required in every area. A consultant's report is required and I was told the cost could be up to €2,000. Perhaps that is something the Minister could consider. We are aware of the summer works programme and all the other things, but a lot of work is required. That issue needs to be considered for schools. Most schools do not have that money. I visited a school where the toilets were not wide enough. Some of the children are very big. That is not just an issue in the school in question. I have also seen it in other schools. Children soil themselves and there is nowhere to wash them. There are basic things that we need to do. Families are struggling.

I welcome the fact that the Minister said she will work with us and we will work with her.

Deputy Natasha Newsome Drennan

Every child has a fundamental right to education. It is a right that all children should enjoy equally. We must, however, face the reality that in Ireland in 2025, it is not the case. Some of the most vulnerable children in Irish society are being left behind. Parents are left waiting years for an assessment and are left battling to find a school that can provide the correct resources for their children. That simply should not be acceptable but has become the norm across the State.

The Government needs to face the fact that under the watch of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, children with additional needs are being left behind. Their parents are pushed to breaking point. Early intervention is crucial to allow a child to reach his or her full potential and to prepare for life. Early intervention can dramatically improve the social, academic and emotional outcomes for children with additional needs.

This crisis has not appeared out of nowhere. It is a clear consequence of decades of underinvestment and poor planning by successive Governments. Year after year, demand for special education has grown but we are left with a disjointed system and poor co-ordination between the Department of Education, the NCSE and schools. No family should be left facing the beginning of the school term without a guaranteed place that can provide the correct support for their child. Parents of children with additional needs in Carlow are, sadly, facing that situation. There is an utter lack of space in autism spectrum disorder, ASD, units in schools across Carlow. Where parents do find a place, they are told they cannot avail of it because they do not live within the school's catchment area. In Kilkenny, some families are dropping some of their children to the local school and then driving as far as Waterford to drop off their children with additional needs to a school with ASD places. A child's education should be provided for in their community, first and foremost, and they should not be forced to travel so far simply to attend a school with an appropriate facility. It is pulling apart the social fabric of communities. We need to face special education with drive and ambition because with anything less, families will continue to struggle and children across the State will be left behind.

Deputy Donna McGettigan

I have been contacted by several parents who are left in a void, having to fight for places in schools for their children with complex needs. Dawn Bennett, one such parent, relocated her family from Limerick to Kilrush in County Clare to find a suitable place in a primary school for her son, Jamie, who has complex needs. Ms Bennett faces the same fight to try to find a place for Jamie in a secondary school. The nearest school that would have a place to suit Jamie is in Ennis, almost 43 km away.

Fiona Gaffney in Shannon had the same issue with her daughter and could only find a place in Limerick, just over 25 km away. Her daughter with complex needs not only had to navigate a new school with new people and teachers but also had to leave her friends.

This has caused a lot of stress and anxiety for Fiona, her daughter and family. Catherine in west Clare said that the lack of services and resources is so worrying. There is all this talk of human rights and advocacy but they cannot even get the basic rights like education for all and safety. This parent is also in a fight to get a place for her son in a secondary school. Catherine’s son has Down's syndrome and complex needs and this is simply not fair. Róisín, who has been diagnosed with autism and does not have a place in her school in the autism unit, has been made to feel, and has been told, that she is not autistic enough. Róisín has an allocated short amount of time with a teacher. Róisín will become an official adult in November meaning that the children's disability network team will discharge her. That means Róisín will be left with a gap in services as she faces into her final year and leaving certificate with no service to help her through. This fragmented type of service is causing anxiety all over. In the words of Dawn in west Clare:

It is only when you are in the system of having a child with disability is that you quickly learn that you are their voice and that everything is a fight. It shouldn't be that way for these children.

The Government needs to stop being reactive in this case and start being proactive to help these families and to end this constant battle to find suitable places in school for their children. I hope that in 2025 we see suitable places within a reasonable distance from children’s homes. We must also ensure that schools have adequate funding to build or repurpose existing accommodation to meet their needs.

Deputy Darren O'Rourke

I thank everyone who contributed to this debate. Earlier I met people from Waterford with Deputies David Cullinane and Conor D. McGuinness and people from Laois with Senator Maria McCormack. A number of people have contacted us through different forums. What we hear from parents, which is something they want the Minister to hear, is that they feel that their children are being left behind. What they say to me and my colleagues is that as parents they are exhausted, heartbroken and frustrated but they are resolute and determined for the love of their own children to see this through. The Minister needs to hear that. I am sure she is well aware of it but I want to make sure that she is.

This situation is totally avoidable had Governments planned, resourced and invested for long enough. The valid point was made that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in some shape or form have been in government for a long, long time, even before all these children were born.

I cannot support the Government amendment. I am disappointed that the Minister tabled amendment in the first place but the first reason I will not support it is that where the Sinn Féin motion includes specific language relating to a commitment for September 2025 while the Government has a commitment to deliver in a timely manner. That is not strong enough for me and we will not support that amendment.

With regard to the commitment from the Government outlined by the Minister and Minister of State here, from Sinn Féin’s perspective and, I think, across the Opposition benches, if the objective is to deliver appropriate school places for every child for September, we will work with the Government every step of the way. We could talk a long time about the barriers that have been identified but the Government will find a willing partner on this side of the House to deliver on that objective. We will persevere and persist on this because these children deserve nothing less.

Amendment put.

An Ceann Comhairle

In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Wednesday, 19 February.