Linda Nelson Murray (Fine Gael)

I thank the NCSE for all its work. I say that because what I am going to say next will come across as negative. I will refer to one school which I strongly feel has been let down by the system, or perhaps this example will allow the NCSE to continue the good work it is doing, while also realising that when a school is spending weeks and months pleading for extra help, maybe it does actually need it. If I have time, I will come back in about another school. I want to thank our guests, whom I met a few weeks ago. It was a pleasure to talk to them. How does the NCSE involve parents, school communities, teachers and principals in shaping allocation policies and guidelines? When it comes to a school in Navan, I feel we have to do more. Colleagues will know what it is like when you work on an issue for a constituent or school and you feel we just have not done something right. That is why I am raising this matter today. I just feel we have not done it right.

The school in question is a vertical DEIS 1 school. The principal has spent so much time working on trying to get extra SNAs that it is affecting the rest of her work. She describes it as soul-destroying for the families, kids, teachers and the school. She has worked in schools for 34 years and knows what she is talking about. In September 2024, she had three SNAs and a clear knowledge that more were needed. She had full support from the CPSMA and the inspectorate. She applied through the NCSE portal for extra SNAs outlining each of the children's issues. It is the school's position that they should increase from three SNAs to six to enable them to provide care to those deserving pupils. The board of management of the school took the unprecedented measure of directly employing an SNA from February to June and now for September. Obviously, that financial outlay cannot keep going.

Also, in September, a student began in the school with documents in their bag. The school had no warning. The student was non-verbal and a flight risk. I have the list of all the different things that affect the children there, including autism, muscular dystrophy, one child being assessed for a wheelchair, severe autism, acquired brain injury, severe emotional and behavioural disturbance, ADHD, intellectual disabilities and global developmental delay. The list it goes on.

In November 2024, an SNA review was conducted on site by a SENO who spent from 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. at the school, such was the amount of paperwork. On 9 December 2024, contact was made with the SENO because there has been no result from the review. On 10 December, the result was in. The school was informed that there would be no change to it SNAs. On 12 December, the school contacted the NCSE with full details of the children and the requirement for extra SNAs. On 9 January 2025, rationale was received from SENO. On 13 January, the appeal was put back onto the portal of the exceptional review. From January to Easter, the ticket status read "being processed", and then it disappeared off the system completely. In the summer, I contacted the Department of Education and Youth to inform it that this appeal had been lost in the system. The school contacted the NCSE and the Department. I mentioned the matter to the NCSE when I met its representatives multiple times throughout the summer but the appeal was simply lost in the system. In July, the school submitted another appeal.

I do not know if I would have the stamina to keep this going like the principal did. There is no way someone would spend all that time doing this if they did not truly believe that their pupils need more SNAs. I have here with me two full folders of everything that has been sent to the NCSE to try to get SNAs for that school. The school has a budget of €250,000 for hot school meals. It takes an hour and a half each year to apply for those meals. The school has spent a year and a half trying to get one SNA at a cost of €40,000 in paperwork, emails and calls. It submitted its appeal again on 17 July. By 25 July, it had their answer, namely no extra SNAs. The school submitted an interim review on the advice of the SENO on 20 August, a week before the kids came back to the school, to include children who had not been represented in the initial review. On 8 September, almost two weeks into the school term, it received another refusal. While there were seven students who were identified initially as needing an SNA, when the latest refusal came in, one student had simply been dropped from the list and only six were mentioned. A child with type 1 diabetes was missed off the list. There is no plan for the redeployment of SNAs to meet the needs of the seven children.

I am very passionate about this. If we are advocating for parental choice, the same services should be available no matter what school they chose to go to. If the kids went to a special school, a mild to moderate one, they would have the help.