Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 October 2020
4. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Education the steps she will take to cater for the increasing numbers of special needs pupils at primary level; if she has assessed the impact of the curtailment of supports for such children as a result of Covid-19; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29741/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraOver the past three weeks, I have brought to the attention of the Taoiseach, the Minister for Health, the chief executive of the HSE and the Minister for Defence the scandal whereby existing front-line therapy staff, including occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech therapists, whose intervention can make a real difference to children's progression in our education system, are sitting in back offices making phone calls as contact tracers asking people whether they have been to the pub. I want these staff returned immediately to the vital role they play in supporting children.
We understand the HSE's position, particularly with Covid and the accelerating pandemic, that it had no option at the time. I am not defending it but I understand why it had to take therapists and use them to tackle Covid through contact tracing. What we did is ask the NCSE to recruit therapists directly. This is what we will do. Recruitment is now under way. It will be very necessary for the school inclusion model I mentioned earlier. We have already had an interim evaluation and I will get the final evaluation at the end of the year. It has been a great success for the children. I am glad the Deputy has asked about it because it will be a revolutionary part of looking after children with special needs. We have shown it has increased their listening skills and confidence. I really think the Irish model will be the envy of many in the world when we get to roll it out, and I am determined to do this over the coming years. I reassure the Deputy that all therapists are now being recruited directly through the NCSE, so we will not be in a position where we have to rely on the HSE.
I welcome this and it is a very positive development to be commended. However, for James who started school in September 2018 and who was referred by the early intervention team to the Galway and Roscommon autism spectrum disorder service in Athenry and placed on a four-year waiting list for occupational therapy and speech and language therapy, the announcement will not have an impact. His access to these vital supports is now being delayed for a further 12 months because therapists are doing contact tracing. As a result, James will be in third class before he accesses these supports, which will help him to participate fully in school. This is having a devastating impact on James and on 1,048 other children on this waiting list in these two counties alone. It also impacts on the education of up to 136,000 pupils throughout County Roscommon and County Galway who are sitting in classes with these children. This does not lead to effective integration. It is welcome but we need to address the HSE problem also.
I hope I adequately answered the question with regard to the HSE issue. The Minister of State with responsibility for disability will deal with access to services in the HSE. My particular remit is with regard to the school environment and making sure we have adequate therapists recruited for the school inclusion model. It is a complementary service to the HSE. It is not in lieu of it or does not substitute for it. The substantive question was about special places or special classes. The NCSE forecasting is very important. It plans the establishment of special classes and special school places on an ongoing basis at local and national level. It has developed closer links with the Department regarding longer term forecasting and is developing a five-year plan that incorporates population demographics information from the Department to the planning section. These forecasts are shared with the planning and building unit to include planning for special class accommodation in all major projects. The planning and building unit recently confirmed, at my instigation, that accommodation for special classes will be introduced and included in all new school builds. It is very important that people are aware of this.
I welcome the reply from the Minister of State. The difficulty is that she is correct, as her remit is about the education system and the Minister of State with responsibility for disability is in charge of another aspect of it. What is happening is this issue is being passed from Billy to Jack. We took Defence Forces personnel away from contact tracing and we left speech and language therapists doing contact tracing over the past seven months. Take Liam for example. He turned five last month and had his first block of speech therapy sanctioned in March. He did not have any session before he started school in September. As Liam was not sanctioned a special needs assistant in a school, his older sister must translate for him. These issues have come across because speech therapists are doing contact tracing and no one has replaced them over the past seven months.
Will the Minister of State intervene and ensure the front-line therapists who could help Liam are doing the job they are trained for? Will the Minister of State ensure his older sister, Eva, can be a normal child in first class and not a special needs assistant for her brother?
Clearly, many of the issues Deputy Naughten is raising are under the remit of the Minister for Health and probably the Minister of State with responsibility for disability as well. I accept what Deputy Naughten is saying. We cannot have delays that are in any way going to adversely affect a child obtaining speech and language services. That is a separate matter to the school setting, as I have said. I do not believe it is a case of being passed from Billy to Jack. These are separate environments and places. The therapy in the school setting is not in lieu of any services that should be provided to a child by the HSE.
A significant investment was made in the budget yesterday with €4 billion going into health. That amount is unprecedented and should help alleviate some of those issues. The special education budget alone has seen a 50% increase since 2011 and the allocation has gone from €1.2 billion to €2 billion. Deputy Naughten mentioned SNAs. There has been a 60% increase since 2011 and we now have 18,000 SNAs. We have made significant progress but obviously there is a great deal more that we need to do.
That is much different.
