Emer Currie (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming before the committee. I also thank her officials. I very much like the Minister of State's analogy of the jigsaw puzzle. There is a job to be done in the context of looking at every piece of the puzzle and taking it apart in places and putting it back together to create a truly inclusive school system. I certainly cannot complain about the time the Minister of State has given me since she was given responsibility for special education. It is reflective of the situation we are facing in west Dublin with the lack of school places for children with additional needs. The Minister of State knows I am working with 23 families who need appropriate places in primary and secondary schools and special schools for their children when the new school year commences in September. Some of these children are not in the right environment. We know from the Dublin 15 primary principals network that there are 111 children in primary school who are not reaching their full potential in their school.

We are in the last week of school before the summer. Many of these families do not have school places for September. That is heartbreaking. The Minister of State met 14 of the families. We really appreciate that. We hear from families about their children's school reports not being what they want them to be. They state the child could thrive in a different environment. We are at a critical point. I would love if the Minister of State could give us an update based on the moving situation she is working on with regard to west Dublin and all of these families. We are speaking about an inclusive education system whereas we know from meeting these families they have had rejection after rejection, with sometimes up to 30 schools not accepting their children. I do not think we can call it an inclusive education system when this is happening in west Dublin.

In the here and now, the Minister of State is working every day on finding a solution for these families. We must also look at why we are here. How did we get to this point? My questions are on the role of the NCSC. How can we have children going from junior national school to senior national school with no forward planning to make sure there is a place for them? How can children go from primary school to secondary school with no proper transition? Simple forward planning is needed. We have the added situation in west Dublin where the NCSE was given information from the Dublin 15 primary principals network two or three years ago on the children who would need places.

I am very much focused on reform, as is the Minister of State. We have to be very honest about the scale of the reform required. We have already spoken about how SENOs provide families with lists of schools. In many cases, the lists in west Dublin were not up to date. In most cases, parents know more about what is happening in particular schools than the SENOs seems to know. One family told me the SENO asked them whether they would be willing to move house to secure a place. People have been asked whether they would accept a place in mainstream education. We know these are not the solutions that parents need to hear. The entire process of admissions cannot be parent led.

The Minister of State is looking at resources. With regard to reform, is there a model elsewhere that she is looking at from which we could learn? I know from the experience of friends and family in the North about the model there. There are link officers who seem to take direct control when it comes to finding placements for families. Do we have the structures and levers in place to do this? As has been discussed, schools seem to have more information. For this system to work, the SENO, or someone in an enhanced role, should find this information and be on the ground working with schools in knowing where the places are. If a school does not think it has a place this individual could come up with solutions. This has to be very much a direct role for someone who is far closer to the schools and their families than the SENOs are at present.

I am not saying this system in the North is perfect because I know it is not. However, an annual review is supposed to take place to see how a child is progressing, whether they are in the appropriate place and what other supports are available.

Currently, the problem is that we do not actually have that system and have not, therefore, even spoken today about the quality of the education and the individual education plans that children are supposed to have in schools. We are actually just at the point at which we are talking about having appropriate numbers of school places and special school classes. We still have not really focused on the issue of quality.

We need training. Schools tell me that when they open a class they get that training only once. It does not matter if there is a new member of staff, the staff will not get additional training when they join a special class. There is a huge amount of work to do, and I know the Minister of State is committed to reforming the system. I would really appreciate an update for the parents of Dublin West. Also, where is the Minister of State’s head at the moment regarding the reform?