Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the presence of the Minister and the Minister of State in the House, although I feel like we are in the wrong seats. The difficulty is that for some children, there is no seat in schools and for some children and schools, we have not been able to vindicate the constitutional right to an appropriate education. The difficulty we have is that the Department of Education does not provide education; it funds and provides for the governance of education but it does not run schools. We have a voluntary system of education, with some schools run by trusts such as Le Chéile or organisations such as Educate Together. Each school has a voluntary board which runs that school.

It is our job in this House to vindicate the right of children to an education. If schools are unwilling to provide that education, we need to take measures, such as section 37A, to ensure that right is vindicated. We have seen that section 37A has not worked and, therefore, the House is today vindicating the right of children with special needs to secure a place in schools in a timely manner. I welcome that and that we are doing it in an emergency way before the recess because disability rights are human rights. We need to make sure we do our job in this House to vindicate those rights.

I know many people work in the education sector who will struggle with the Government instructing that this must be done. I know that because for the last three and a half years, I have worked closely with school principals, SENOs and parents. The Ministers of State, Deputies Madigan and Rabbitte, have both met parents in my area who have advocated this measure. I understand the complex dynamic between schools and parents. At the centre of that are the children and we need to focus on them. This will be a challenge for education and for schools, particularly DEIS schools because they have an awful lot on their plate. There are many complex factors from outside the classroom coming into DEIS schools and principals have to juggle all of those things.

DEIS schools also want to provide ASD classes. I do not want the message to go out that schools with DEIS status do not want to take on the challenge of an ASD class. I cite the example of the Minister coming out to Virgin Mary Girls' National School in my area after it decided to open a new class. The principal would tell me the school does not have the treatments and therapies available to fully support these children. From the conversations I have had with her, I know that is true. However, before the children had those places, the parents did not have those treatments and therapies either. If we can get children into schools, we will have a far better chance of ensuring the HSE delivers the treatments and therapies for those children in schools, as it must do. Once we get children into schools, they are in the place where we can support them with measures such as the school inclusion model. I welcome this legislation and urge the House to pass it as quickly as possible.

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