Dáil debates
Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Special Educational Needs
11:00 pm
Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the opportunity to raise this very important issue with the Minister of State. As he knows, autism spectrum disorder units are very important. It is important children have access to them. We have a chronic shortage of ASD units at second level in all of County Laois. Good work has been done in existing ASD units at primary level and in some second level colleges in the country where they exist. However, we need expansion of it because of the enrolment. We have had a rapid population increase in the county. The last census shows that there has been a huge population increase. An increasing number of children will be coming on stream and going into secondary schools. I have been contacted by parents of children who are moving from primary school to secondary school in September and who cannot get a place in the ASD unit. The children are coming out of ASD units. All the reports are recommending that they remain in an ASD unit at second level. When transitioning from primary level to second level, it can be challenging for children who do not have a special need. However, I think the Minister of State will accept that it can be a very anxious time for children who have special needs and their parents. They need that support and extra help that is given in the ASD units.
The school boards of management are frustrated. The staff are frustrated. Parents are worried. There are a number of schools in which these are needed. Many of these need new accommodation to build them. They are in line for new accommodation but as yet, it is not coming. Portlaoise College needs four extra ASD classes. I spoke to the staff there just yesterday about it. St. Mary's CBS Portlaoise needs two extra classes. Coláiste Íosagáin in Portarlington needs two. I understand that it does have the spaces. Coláiste Dhún Másc in Portlaoise needs two extra ASD classes. Heywood Community School in Ballinakill needs two extra ASD classes. A number of schools need that. The Minister of State can understand that. I have spoken to parents whose children are number 14 or 15 on a list. That might be okay for mainstream classes because people will drop out or go to other schools. However, with the small numbers of places available, if a person is down that far, he or she has little hope of getting in.
I say to the Minister of State in a very strong and conscientious way that it is really important children have this intervention in their teens and as they move through their teenage years. We know that if the interventions are not there at that point and they do not get the learning supports that are required, this will hold them back. However, it also causes further consequences in later life in terms of employment. Children may get into trouble as adults and people may go down the wrong road. It may cause all sorts of problems throughout their lives in terms of employment, home life, social life and all other aspects of their lives.
I accept that some of the buildings will be modular, some will be rapid builds, and some will be standard construction. I am not that hard and fast - most people are not - about what we get once they are quality structures. A lot of the new modular builds are very good, if that can be done. Those schools I named need action. This cannot be postponed. We have to make headway with it. We have to make sure these children make the transition successfully out of primary school from sixth class into first year. We need to keep them within the education system and build for them a successful future. We must ensure they have a bright time ahead of them as they go through the school system and progress in life.
Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, for being here to deal with this Topical Issue matter.
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I genuinely and sincerely thank Deputy Stanley for raising this issue and laying out very considerably what is an extremely delicate matter - I think we both accept that - not just for the students in question but particularly their families, teachers and the wider school community.
At the outset, with the Deputy's indulgence, I would like to lay out a little bit of the detail with regard to the work of the Department of Education and National Council For Special Education on how they are continuing to support children with special educational needs, not just at a post-primary level but also at a primary school level, although I will particularly refer to post-primary level in County Laois at the end.
In 2023, the Department of Education spent in excess of €2.6 billion, or over 27% of the Department’s budget, on providing additional teaching and care supports for children with special educational needs, and further progress will be made this year as an additional €113 million will be dedicated to providing supports for children with special educational needs.
This will allow the Department to further the number of teaching and SNA posts in our schools with an additional 744 teachers and 1,216 SNAs added to deliver up to 2,700 new places for children with special educational needs. This will mean we will have over 41,500 qualified and committed people in our schools who are focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs. The NCSE has responsibility for co-ordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide.
Over the last number of years, the Department of Education and the NCSE have introduced a number of strategic initiatives to plan for and provide sufficient mainstream, special class and special school places. These initiatives are bearing fruit with more than 1,300 new special classes sanctioned and seven new special schools established over the last four years.
The Department continues to engage intensely with the NCSE with regard to the forward planning of new special classes and additional special school places. This forward planning work is well under way ahead of the 2024-2025 school year. This work involves a detailed review of statistical data with regard to forecasting demand for special class places, an analysis of available school accommodation, consideration of improved data sharing arrangements and a particular focus on the provision of special classes at post-primary level. As a result of this forward planning, the education Ministers announced the establishment of two special schools for this school year, with further capacity being expanded in 11 other special schools and that a further four special schools for the 2024-25 school year will be established.
Along with the two new special schools, 389 new special classes, that is, 253 at primary and 136 at post-primary level, have been sanctioned by the NCSE for opening this school year. Of these, eight are in Laois - four at primary level and four at post-primary - bringing the total number of special classes in County Laois to 60, that is, 44 at primary level and 16 at post-primary level.
The NCSE is currently engaging with a number of post-primary schools, including schools such as Coláiste Íosagáin and Heywood Community School to which the Deputy referred, to open further classes for the 2024-2025 school year and these details will be finalised in the coming weeks.
I will undertake this evening that as soon as these details are finalised, they will be forwarded to Deputy Stanley and his office for consideration and that there will be an increased amount of consultation with the parents, students and teachers in question. We all are in shared agreement that there is absolutely a need for additional classes across the country and, indeed, particularly at post-primary level. I look forward to engaging further with the Deputy going forward.
Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I have followed what he said here very carefully.
I welcome the fact there is some forward planning happening under the National Council for Special Education. That is really important. On this forward planning, the Minister of State said works are under way for the 2024-2025 school year and there are 389 new special classes. In Laois, I have spoken to people in the second-level educational sector who deal in special education and who are running second-level schools, boards of management, staff, etc. According to the figures, there are 12 classes needed to catch up with the required number of students coming through this year. Ten, at a minimum, is what it looks like to me. That is the best figure I can put on it. While I welcome that, of these new ones that have been sanctioned, eight are in Laois. Four are at primary and four are at post-primary, but what I am saying to the Minister of State is there are another six to eight needed at second level.
There are 389 special classes sanctioned. I understand some of them will be at primary level and some of them will be at second level. If we say it is half and half, there are roughly nearly 200 if you were splitting them down the middle. Laois needs to get a fair slice of those. I accept every Deputy will be looking for them for his or her own area but I am saying, because of the rapid growth in population in Laois and because we are playing catch-up in terms of the provision of ASD units and ASD classes, it is very important. Government is playing catch-up with this. I would like to see the following schools looked at again: Portlaoise College, the CBS Portlaoise, Coláiste Íosagáin in Portarlington, Coláiste Dhún Másc, Heywood Community School in Ballinakill and Scoil Chríost Rí.
11:10 pm
Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Deputy.
Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Two of them, as I understand it, do not have enough physical space already but the rest of them all require buildings.
Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The time is up. I thank the Deputy.
Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to do that. The Minister of State might just give me a response on where each one of those schools is at. That would be really helpful.
Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Minister of State might not be able to do it now but I am sure he might respond.
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy can understand, I cannot give specifics on the hoof on those schools in question but I will speak to the Minister in question and make sure that is communicated to the Deputy as soon as possible by the Department's team.
The following alludes in some ways to the situation in Laois in particular. Laois is a county the Deputy will know better than me. Indeed, it is the Ceann Comhairle's neighbouring county, so he knows well the rapid growth that has been consistent throughout the county, but particularly around the county town of Portlaoise, especially in terms of the additional housing accommodation over the past decade or 15 years, but more so in recent years. This has all been taken into account by the Department of Education, which is planning for the increased demographic and for increased prevalent rates of need for special classes and has, therefore, engaged extensively with post-primary stakeholders. Indeed, the Department of Education communicated to post-primary schools nationwide the need to begin planning to provide additional special classes. It is envisaged that all post-primary schools will be required to provide special classes over the next two to four years, with an approximate average of four special classes in each school. Whether it be Portlaoise College, Scoil Chríost Rí or any of the other schools the Deputy has mentioned, if they have identified that they have space and they are in a position to do it, the Department of Education with the NCSE will ensure that space is utilised, maximised and, more importantly, the needs of the children at post-primary level in the Deputy's county and, indeed, the needs of their families and wider community are met as quickly as possible.
As a nation, we are playing catch-up on this. That is not through any lack of political will. It is merely increased prevalence of treatment that has occurred through circumstances. No doubt this will be resolved as quickly as possible. I am sure the Ministers concerned look forward to working closely with the Deputy to guarantee this.
Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Nílimid ag déileáil anocht leis an tsaincheist ón Teachta Mattie McGrath toisc nach bhfuil an tAire ar fáil.