Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter because only last weekend there was a public demonstration organised by parents who are continuing to encounter significant difficulties in getting school placements for their children. Every year, we come across the same range of challenges facing parents who are seeking a suitable school place for their children. The reason for this is a lack of coherent planning by the Department to ascertain the school places needed and to provide accordingly. When I enquired with the Department in March on behalf of a number of parents, I was told that planning for special classes for the 2024-25 school year is currently underway. This is a particular part of the problem. Forward planning on the Department's side appears to be last minute. Six months prior to the start of the school year, the Department is effectively telling parents to start the rush to apply for fewer places than are needed.

Under current legislation, the NCSE does not have any power to designate a place for a child with special educational needs or to require significant classes to be established to support children with complex needs or those on the autism spectrum. Parents consequently find themselves being told that the school they have applied to is already fully subscribed or, worse, that the school they believed their child was going to is oversubscribed and that they should look elsewhere. This often means that parents can be faced with the choice of sending their child out of their community or else educating them from home while the Department gets its act together. It is disgraceful. That is why Sinn Féin tabled the Education (Inclusion of Persons) Bill 2023 to provide for enhanced planning and co-ordination of school planning areas. The Department further advised us and the parents to contact the NCSE locally and that the SENO remains available to advise. I found myself having to appeal to the NCSE to even respond to my queries, while a common complaint from parents relates to their inability to get in contact with the SENO within an acceptable timeframe. That is not a reflection on the SENO; it is, rather, a reflection on the fact that there is a total of two SENOs in County Tipperary. This is all wrong. Sinn Féin brought forward the Education (Inclusion of Persons) Bill 2023 in order that we could amend and extend the education Act to provide for the inclusion of information from special educational needs organisers in school planning. Planning, spaces and an end to the ratio inflicted on parents each year is needed. Article 24 of the UNCRPD demands it, parents demand it and Sinn Féin also demands it.

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