Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to take up my five minutes by referring to previous contributions, but the last contribution represents the type of debate we need. I agree in almost every respect with the comments made. This is about ensuring the children in our schools who need additional supports get them. We must measure the best possible outcome for these children and address the transition from primary to secondary school. I am not certain the same model should apply at primary and secondary level, but it is a debate we need to have. No child is the same person when he or she transitions from primary to secondary. Clearly, we should not expect children with special educational needs to remain the same.

I wish to put certain claims to bed in relation to SNAs. We have not reduced the number of SNAs. There has been no cut. In 2012 we had 475 spare SNAs and last year we had 160. This year it is estimated that there will be at least 80 spare SNAs. That is the reserve available to children who come into the system needing additional support.

I must refer to Deputy Timmy Dooley's comments. He has said the only people who go to guidance counsellors are dysfunctional individuals who come from families that do not care. He should withdraw that comment. Guidance counsellors deal with everyone in the school community, or did deal with everyone. We hope now that the whole-of-school approach plays a part and includes guidance counsellors. That is not to take away from the expertise they have in the area.

I welcome the opportunity to address some of the issues surrounding the allocation of supports for children with special educational needs for the coming school year and to respond to the debate on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. The Government has listened carefully to the contributions of Members on both sides of the Houses over the course of the debate. I welcome the measured tone of most of the contributions, particularly Deputy Brendan Smith's. This morning the Minister met a number of representative groups, including parents and children with special educational needs. He heard the fears expressed by parents about their children's futures. He heard the real and tangible upset parents expressed that many of their children faced a future of isolation and exclusion if they were not supported to engage fully in their education. A number of parents referred to a recent report prepared by the National Disability Authority, which suggested more than 20% of parents of typical children, or those without a disability, did not welcome the fact that their children would be educated with children with special educational needs. That is alarming, but given my responsibility for disability matters, it comes as no surprise to me. That type of attitude has been hardening in recent years.

I assure parents that despite the confusing messages appearing in the media and the inaccurate and confusing messages which have been repeated continuously by Opposition parties and others, there has been no cut to the level of special needs assistant support allocated to their children. As I have said on numerous occasions in relation to my responsibility for mental health, Members of the Dáil must remember that what we say in the House has a real impact on people's lives. Of course, the Opposition has a duty to oppose. In doing so, however, it must recognise its responsibility to represent the facts as they are. The Fianna Fáil motion started by condemning what it termed the deplorable announcement of cuts in special needs assistant supports. The Government has made no such announcement and neither has the NCSE. I invite Deputy Charlie McConalogue to acknowledge publicly that this is the case when he has the opportunity to do so.

This year, after allocating special needs assistants to qualifying children on exactly the same basis as last year, the NCSE has 80 posts which remain available for late applications. It is expected that some of the allocated posts will be freed up when schools open in September as some children may have enrolled in more than one school. Where a child does not turn up, the NCSE will recover the allocated post. Last year it recovered more than 25 posts in this way. We recognise fully that there is significant pressure on special needs assistant numbers this year and that the extent of late demand is, as yet, unknown. The Minister has asked the NCSE to keep him informed of progress over the summer.

I commend the amendment to the motion. I note the contribution of Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, which finished significantly with a reference to the Anglo Irish Bank tapes. We must all remember those awful tapes of people laughing at taxpayers in Ireland and the rest of Europe. That has played a significant part in reducing the resources the country can offer a range of people.

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