Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 3 Jul 1996

Vol. 148 No. 8

Adjournment Matters. - Escorts for Handicapped Children.

Mr. R. Kiely

I am pleased to raise this important matter. While I welcome the Minister for Social Welfare, I am disappointed that the Minister for Education is not here to deal with this. This issue concerns her.

I am concerned about the Holy Family School for the Mentally Handisioner capped, Baker's Road, Charleville, which is over 25 years old. It was built voluntarily and was the brainchild of Dr. O'Donnell, a former of Member this House. He, Mrs. Máire McCarthy and others were concerned about a school for mentally handicapped and they founded this school through voluntary subscriptions and fund raising. It is serving a wide catchment area, the widest in Ireland, with the longest bus routes. The catchment area embraces five constituencies. I am sure Senator Sherlock is aware of that.

The parents are concerned about escorts for children on the five buses who travel to this school because the bus drivers have enough to do without worrying about what is happening behind them. Handicapped children need special care on the buses. A child could have an epileptic fit and the bus driver would not know about it, but if there was an escort, the bus could be stopped. I would prefer a male driver with a female escort or, if there was a female driver, a male escort.

These people are concerned about the safety of the pupils. On one of the buses there is an escort who was procured through a FÁS scheme; she was good. She reported to one of the parents that the child was kicking another child on the bus. The parent was disappointed but that happens with retarded children. The parent asked the escort how did she prevent it. She said that she took off the child's shoes; this was a sensible thing to do. It is essential to have escorts to look after handicapped children. Many of these children are moderately handicapped but a previous Minister asked that a special class be set up for severely handicapped children and it is these children who cause a share of the problems.

There is also the possibility that a bus could break down. What should the driver do? Should he abandon the bus or stay with the children? How could he contact anyone? It would be impossible for him to abandon a bus with handicapped children in it. Someone would have to stay on the bus while he looked for help or for someone to repair the bus. I have heard of a child falling out of the window of a bus when the children were not being looked after. This is the danger.

This committee wrote to the Minister and was disappointed that they did not get a reply. That is why I am disappointed the Minister is not here. She should have the courtesy to reply and outline the position as regards providing escorts on buses transporting handicapped children to this school. There are children from Tipperary, Limerick and Cork attending the school. The Minister should treat this as a priority and ensure that the parents know nothing will happen to their children. The Department should provide escorts on the buses transporting these children to Charleville.

Minister for Social Welfare (Proinsias De Rossa)

The Minister for Education regrets that she is not able to be here. She has asked me to present the position to the House on the matter raised by Senator Rory Kiely.

The Department of Education is aware and appreciates the difficulties encountered by some children with disabilities in travelling to special schools and would be anxious to alleviate those difficulties wherever possible. The Department provides school transport for children attending special schools and classes on either scheduled or special services. However, in some cases, this is not feasible due to particular circumstances, such as excessive costs, too long a distance or the inability of a child to avail of the service because of the nature of the disability. In such cases, the Department offers a grant to the parents to help defray the cost of private transport arrangements. The amount payable depends on the distance involved and the level of attendance of the pupil.

In 1993, the Report of the Special Education Review Committee recommended that "the Department of Education should grant aid the provision of escorts on school buses, where the need for them has been shown to exist". In 1995, the Minister for Education allocated a sum of 150,000 for a pilot scheme of grant aid towards the provision of escorts on special school transport services. Similar funding was made available in 1996. All special schools and schools with special classes were invited to apply for funding. Following consideration of all applications in the Department, it was decided that funding under the pilot phase of the scheme should be concentrated on the following areas: to facilitate the appointment of escorts on services to special schools and special classes with a physical handicap, and to provide assistance towards the cost of escorts for pupils attending the special schools for hearing impaired and visually impaired children who travel long distances by bus and train at weekends. It will be necessary to fully evaluate the operation of the pilot phase of the scheme before considering any modification or expansion.

I regret that it is not possible to include the school transport routes referred to by the Senator in this pilot scheme at present. Earlier this year Deputy Allen, Minister of State, established the school transport review committee to review the entire school transport scheme. The provision of escort services will form part of this review.

I can assure the Senator that the needs of the children attending the special school in question will be given every consideration in the event of any further expansion of the escort scheme being undertaken.