Mr. Mark O'Connor:

I thank Deputy Butler very much for the question. It would be an understatement to say the summer programme has been characterised by confusion. The Department has definitely changed the message it gave to organisations such as Inclusion Ireland, AsIAm and Down Syndrome Ireland over a period of weeks and that in turn has led to confusion among parents, schools and so forth.

At the moment, children with Down's syndrome who are in secondary school cannot avail of the summer programme. Children with moderate intellectual disabilities at second level cannot avail of the programme. Children who are in special classes at second level cannot avail of the programme unless they have autism. No magic happens at 13 years of age to suggest that a child's education does not regress over the summer period.

These children have the same issues as children at primary level. If the Department is making a decision that we should be admitting these children into the scheme at primary school level, I cannot see why there is a cut-off where it goes into second level.

I would like to draw the Deputy's attention to what the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, said about the scheme in 2015. The NCSE is the organisation which gives policy advice to the Minister and the Department. It stated:

As the research evidence does not support the provision of an extended school year on the basis of a diagnosis of ASD only, we are concerned that continued funding may be open to challenge on equality grounds. Research shows other students with significant intellectual disabilities .... can also experience regression in learning and a slower rate of recoupment.

For that reason, the NCSE was "not able to recommend continuation of a scheme .... which is inequitable". While it is welcome that additional children are in the scheme this year, it is still excluding a large cohort of children.