Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. The decision to target education cuts in some of the most vulnerable groups in our school system, namely, special needs children and migrant children, is appalling. Those who cannot speak for themselves are being targeted by a Government that does not want them to speak.

Language is a major barrier for migrant children in our classroom system. We cannot achieve integration if some of the most marginalised in our society are not competent in the English language, both spoken and written. Not only does that cause social problems but the cap on language support teachers in conjunction with the increased class sizes and the withdrawal of these special classes will result in teachers allocating an inordinate amount of time to some students, with the rest of the class suffering.

Speaker after speaker on the Government benches lectured us on the issue of integration and the mainstreaming of pupils. These special classes are mainstream. If the Minister knew anything about the system he would at least know that. They are in mainstream schools. I know at first hand the challenges parents have to face in making the decision in the first instance on whether to send their child to a mainstream school or to a special needs school. That is a difficult decision for any parent. As a public representative, I dread a parent meeting me to seek a domiciliary care allowance or the carer's allowance because I know that for the next number of years I will have to fight to get every basic entitlement for those children, whether it be in or outside the education system, a psychological assessment, speech and language therapy or, in the case of migrant children, language support.

It is hypocritical to be lectured by the Government on the issue of mainstreaming in this instance. I will give one example of what is it issue from one school principal to whom I spoke in whose school two children will be withdrawn from one of these special support classes and put into a double class of 29 pupils. At present, they get intensive support with English and mathematics. There are six migrant children in the class born outside the island of Ireland. Of these, there are three for whom English is not their first language. There are also seven Traveller children. One in four of the pupils in the school are Travellers. They are entitled to an additional Traveller resource teacher but that will not be given to them by the Department of Education and Science.

We are being told that this represents integration and mainstreaming. Which of those children will the teacher prioritise in that class? It is a decision of Solomon that the teacher must deal with on a day-to-day basis. I am being told by the Government that this is mainstreaming, integration and isolation, and that it is a way of identifying those children as individuals who will be isolated in that class. However, they will be like every other child in the class, therefore, I will not take lecturing from the Government on this issue.

In addition to the withdrawal of services to children, not only within the education system but within the health system, which is appalling, is the dramatic increase in the pupil-teacher ratio in many schools in my constituency. The Government has decided, with this policy and its other education policies over the past number of months, to pit one pupil against another. It has chosen to expose these children, both Irish and non-Irish, to exclusion and isolation. It is exclusion from the help that they need and from the ability to read, to learn and to participate. That is what it calls mainstreaming. It is appalling. It is time the Government got an education in what it is all about. I commend the motion to the House.

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