Ms Lorraine Dempsey:

Deputy Catherine Martin asked several questions. I might be able to answer some of them. She asked what other countries do. The educational system of our nearest neighbour, the United Kingdom, is managed by borough as opposed to central Government. Each borough has a standard policy for reduced school days, with a very basic, step-by-step approach to how the decision is made, the factors taken into account, and the process by which it is monitored. It is essentially what we are looking for in an Irish context.

Interestingly enough, only a few weeks ago a former Minister for education came to Ireland from New Brunswick in Canada and met our Minister, Deputy Joe McHugh, at the behest of the NCSE. New Brunswick has a fully inclusive education system. It does not have special schools and special classes but it still grapples with the issue of restricted school timetables, which I found very interesting. One reason cited is the lack of investment in its inclusive special education system over the past couple of years, when the former Minister was not in power. It is very interesting that a very different educational system, which involves full inclusion, also experiences our issue. That system has wraparound supports in the schools. We have not heard from fellow witnesses from the school side but I would hazard a fairly concrete guess, on the basis of anecdotal evidence, that where there is a lack of capacity in the schools with the additional supports, there is probably more use of reduced school timetables, particularly in schools dealing with students who exhibit challenging behaviour, whether it is due to socio-economic circumstances or arising from a disability or another factor.

Deputy O'Loughlin asked what interventions could be used. I will not reiterate the point on the lack of support to schools, which I am sure colleagues are going to start screaming about. While the Minister has made a directive of sorts and has indicated his views in parliamentary questions, schools are just not listening. As Deputy Thomas Byrne indicated, that might be slightly unfair on schools that are constantly repeating, along with organisations representing people with disabilities, that a lack of appropriate supports and investment in schools is causing an issue. It is our children who are ultimately being affected by this.

Senator Gallagher asked about the scale of the matter. We do not know and need to find this out in order to address the matter.

There was a question about what a restricted school timetable looks like. There are a few aspects. We take no issue with some of them. For example, every junior infant in most schools has a reduced timetable. They are in for short days for the first two weeks while they settle in. Children with additional needs might have further restrictions. They might be in for ten minutes on the first day, 20 on the next, half an hour on the next and so on. We do not take issue with that because it may be part of the child's transition plan for entering the new school setting.

However, how does it appear where a parent does not agree with it and where it is more punitive in nature? The child does not arrive in the middle of the day. He or she usually arrives at 9 a.m. and is taken home at 9.30 a.m. or he or she comes in for whatever hours the school has dictated that he or she be there and then is taken home. As a result, the child does not come in for segments of the school day by choice as to what subjects he or she might like.

On the other side of it - and, again, we do not take issue with this but we would like far more supports for these children - are the children who are on reduced school timetables but it is voluntary and due to major mental health issues such as anxiety. In dealing with those children, there is a reduced timetable where they would select, perhaps, one subject one day per week or it might be two or three days per week and they would come in just for that subject. It is voluntary and planned, and is in the best interest of the child. My concern is that those children do not have any other educational supports for the other days and, with regard to the home tuition scheme, we would like to see something for those pupils whether it is voluntary or involuntary to fulfil what is a constitutional obligation of the State. While we might argue about whether there are concrete guidelines, there is still a constitutional obligation not to fail these children.

Deputy Catherine Martin asked about teachers' backgrounds and training. We have repeatedly addressed the issue of core teacher training in respect of special educational needs. Restricted school timetables are not something only seen in mainstream schools. They are also in special schools. Special schools are deemed to be the most specialist educational settings. A child might start off in mainstream school and end up in a special school. However, where a child ends up on a restricted school timetable in a special school and that is not successful and leads to suspension and possibly expulsion, that child has nowhere else to go because he or she has already gone the route of speciality. Again, special schools would cite the lack of wraparound supports for those schools being able to deal with a child's difficulties and being able to support and reintegrate the child successfully back into the school.

We are repeating many of the same themes that go beyond restricted timetables, but they play a large part in this phenomenon. We still do not know, bar anecdotally, how big it is.