Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----and where the Ministers of State at his Department are. When this important motion is before the House, it is disrespectful that the Minister cannot be here to listen to the debate. It is disrespectful to those who protested, both outside and in other parts of the country, and it is also disrespectful to the parents of many of the children who are here in the Visitors Gallery to listen to the debate tonight as well. It is the least we could have expected. At a minimum, an upfront explanation would have been required.

I commend those who came out today to highlight the impact these cuts will have, particularly in special needs assistant hours to which the Minister has not made any change in recent days. I commend those young people from my party who attended and I want to remark upon the unfortunate fact that they experienced bullying behaviour from some who attended holding political party placards. It was unacceptable that they would focus on the young people who were there from my own party showing a genuine concern for the special needs assistant issue instead of paying attention to the speeches which were going on at the protest behind.

There are two aspects to the announcement on this issue. The contradiction I pointed out in the Dáil on Thursday last was that, unlike the fact the Minister was hiring 900 additional mainstream teachers across the system to provide for the additional demand in September, he was not making a similar provision in the case of resource teaching hours for special needs students or special needs assistants. I raised this issue on several occasions since the budget, which is when he introduced this measure, and on every occasion since then until last week, the Minister refused to admit there would be any cut to the services which were to be experienced by students. I never stated there would be a change to the overall figure, either in SNAs or in resource teachers. What I stated was that there would be a cut experienced by each student. That was made clear eventually when the Minister had to admit it last week in the case of resource teaching hours when the National Council for Special Education highlighted that students in September next would get only 0.75 of their hours instead of the 0.85 they received last year - a 12% cut. Each and every special needs child with particular learning needs in the country who was eligible for resource teaching hours was to experience a 12% cut. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Gilmore, told me clearly during Leaders' Questions last Thursday morning that "there is no cut". He would not admit that every child would experience a cut. Yesterday, his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Quinn, admitted at last that there would be a cut experienced by every child and stated that he would provide an additional 500 teachers to ensure the cut would not be experienced by children in September.

However, the Government still pursues the fallacy and pretence that no cut will be experienced by students who require special needs assistants in classrooms. I admit the cap remains the same-----

See this speech in context