Mr. Mark O'Connor:

To be clear, there are guidelines. The National Educational Welfare Board published a book on developing a code of discipline in schools. It is very clear on a child being denied any part of the school day. It is regarded as a suspension. These are suspensions that go on for a period. The same guideline will refer to rolling suspensions or inappropriate use suspensions. The guideline has not been applied in the manner I describe but it is quite clear.

Before he left, Deputy Thomas Byrne stated that parents often ignore the call. I know of one parent who phoned me and who had ignored the call. That parent was reported to Tusla for not picking up the child. It was deemed to be a welfare issue affecting the child.

With regard to teaching, there is possibly a systemic training issue. A recent survey by the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland indicates 5% of respondents had a postgraduate qualification in special education. Only 22% had attended continuing professional development, CPD, seminars in special education in recent years. That is a bit of an issue. The Teaching Council is quite clear that a qualified teacher is qualified to teach all children and does not need any additional qualification.

I am not aware of the inspectors asking the questions that were mentioned. Perhaps they do. I am aware of a child who was on a reduced timetable of only three days per week because the school was allocated an SNA for only three days. There was part access to an SNA. The child did not have toileting or behavioural issues; it was purely a matter of resources. By the time the child came to us, he or she had missed out. The child's case was referred to us in April and he or she had been on the reduced timetable since September. This was a significant period. It just took a meeting with the school to say this was not right and had to change. It changed.

There are absolutely no data. There are data collated on suspensions and expulsions but none on what I am referring to. The guidelines are very clear. These are suspensions but there are no data collected so we do not know the full extent. We can base our view only on what we hear in our case work and the survey we carried out. We had 101 respondents to a short survey we carried out in respect of a different submission. Each had short school days.

Senator Ruane referred to the benefit of inclusion. The evidence base is very clear. The best way to include a child is to have him or her in the school as much as possible. We had a call this week from a parent in circumstances where the school proposed a shortened school day. There was no striking out on the part of the child but he was becoming agitated and crying at a certain point in the day. He was in an autism class and was not allowed to go out and play with his peers in the mainstream classes. He wanted to go out and mess with the big bunch. The parent said there were no physical issues that would prevent him from doing so. He quite liked the company of other children but, because he was not allowed out, he resorted to crying and so forth. That is the reason for the proposal for a short day.

Senator Gallagher asked what can be done for schools. In the vast majority of cases, schools are trying their best and, more than likely, are doing what they are doing as a last resort. We have spoken about the outside stuff, including the therapeutic supports and mental health supports. NEPS assessments point to approximately two in 100 children. If there is a third child in a school who could benefit, he or she may be in a bit of difficulty. Through our casework, we have been made aware of these issues. One family spoke to me about a psychologist and speech and language therapist who came in from St. John of God, carried out a full assessment and presented a behavioural plan that would work really well for the young chap in question. It was not implemented, however, and the short school day continued.

On the Chairman's comments, we have spoken about all the supports. They would be really helpful for schools and pupils. Actions taken should not be hidden. If a school is going to suspend a child, it should be done in the official manner. At least at that point, the pupil or parent has recourse through section 29 of the Education Act. The data should be collected in order that we know the scale of the problem. I have already said that perhaps something around the EPSEN Act is required. The Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland has been very vocal and asked that the Act be implemented and that the staff be given the training and resources. It said it would be only too delighted to get involved.

With regard to empirical evidence, I am only aware of an internal survey we carried out. I am not aware of any robust research in the area. That is all I wanted to say.