Ms Charlotte Cahill:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to speak on education for children with special educational needs. As a parent and an advocate, I witness first-hand the strain on Ireland's special education system. Despite committed educators, urgent reform is needed to ensure timely, inclusive and appropriate education for children with special educational needs.

My family has experienced more than 60 school refusals for my daughter, despite assurances from the Government that all children known to the NCSE would have a school place.

Only after legal action did I receive a section 67 place, highlighting the ongoing crisis many families face. To make matters worse, our place is dependent on building work, with no confirmed date, leaving our child's future uncertain.

The current system for allocating special needs assistants and special education teachers is deeply flawed. Parents are excluded from meaningful involvement. The focus on primary care needs like toileting ignores essential regulation and emotional support needs, especially for children with neurodivergent profiles such as autism, ADHD or trauma backgrounds. Children who are continent and mobile but who struggle with anxiety, sensory overload or disregulation are often denied SNA supports because their needs are viewed as behavioural. This excludes and undermines inclusion and the spirit of the EPSEN Act 2004 and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We urge the Department to revise the primary care needs framework to include sensory regulation and emotional safety and to create transparent child-centred criteria for SNA allocations.

Additionally, the home-based summer provision programme faces recruitment challenges due to significant pay disparities between SNAs and teachers combined with heavy taxation and delayed payments. Fair pay and conditions are essential to retain these vital staff. Parents seek fairness, transparency and accountability, a system that supports children from the start, not just after advocacy, and legal action.

I thank the committee for taking the time to listen to us and I look forward to any questions.