Ms Saoirse Brady:

To address Deputy's Casey's point, our Home Works report, which was written by Dr. Geraldine Scanlon and Ms Gráinne McKenna of Dublin City University, submitted independent research involving 20 families. One of the findings they made having talked to the parents about how their children experienced school was that schools are a place of sanctuary for those children. We need to do everything we can to ensure children can stay in the same school and have that routine and security that they do not have while living in emergency accommodation. As Dr. Muldoon indicated, quite a number of children in schools that do not have DEIS status do not have the same support as those in schools with DEIS status. It is not that schools with DEIS status have more resources but that they are more used to dealing with disadvantage so they know about what emerged from the research. The authors of the report interviewed principals, teachers, special needs assistants and home, school, community liaison officers and they found that those in schools with DEIS status knew where to go whereas those working in schools that did not have DEIS status might not have been as familiar with that. They found that principals were spending a great deal of time writing letters to advocate on behalf of families but that did not really make a difference and they felt frustrated by that.

The Minister, Deputy McHugh spoke about the Home Works report and its recommendations during a Dáil debate on this area earlier this year and said he would examine them and the way in which they could be implemented. In that respect he said he would extend the home, school, community liaison scheme to schools that do not have DEIS status for a limited period of perhaps three years so that all schools would have those supports they need and that children in schools that do not have DEIS status would not fall through the cracks. Some of the other recommendations in that report related to extending the July provision programme which is usually for children with special needs. That would mean children in homeless accommodation would have somewhere to go in the daytime during the summer months because that is also a major issue for them. If they live in emergency accommodation, especially in one night only accommodation, they might have to wander the streets for a period of time during the day.

Deputy Casey asked what could be done in the shorter term. Some of the proposals we have presented could help. He cited the example of families who move to live in accommodation in Wicklow who have to bring their children back to school in Dublin. It would be helpful if local authorities, when making decisions, could take account of where children are attending school. They are often operating at the mercy of where accommodation is available, but it would be helpful if a system could be put in place to consider those elements. Ultimately, if the legislation was changed to place a duty on them to have to consider these elements, that would make a major difference. Those are some elements we would find. That report has been forwarded to the committee but we can resubmit it as it contains quite a number of practical recommendations. It recommended that the Department of Education and Skills would become part of the inter-agency group that is examining these issues. We are delighted that has happened and we hope it will make a real difference in terms of children’s education.