Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)

When the Government came into office, its members went to great pains to say they would not mind being judged on how they would look after the most vulnerable in society. If this is their way of doing that I find it difficult to understand.

Resource teachers for Travellers have been cut. This hits every child in the primary schools that are affected but it hits most Traveller children and children with weaker learning ability. Cuts to learning support teachers and to language support teachers are hitting those who most need our help. The first priority of a State is to look after those who most need its help. Some of us do all right at looking after ourselves because, for one reason or another, we have had advantages in life and have financial independence, but many people in our society need the help of the Government to fulfil their potential and grow in a healthy manner.

We are damaging young children and we are damaging children from the less well-off sections of our community the most. If we were in a Third World country we would value education as being vital to the improvement of where we are. Third World people see education as a way out of their difficult situation. We are considered a First World country but we do not have as healthy an approach to education as even Third World countries do.

We give money to so many areas but we are prepared to damage our children. We all know that a euro spent on a child before the age of ten will save the state €7 or €8 before the child becomes an adult. How false is that economy? We will save €4.5 million by charging children for coming to school on buses. Which children will suffer from this measure? Will it be the children of people who earn more than €100,000 per year? It will not. The children of people on the dole or in low-paid employment will be hit.

The Government says there will be enough help for those affected by the cap on funding for special needs assistants. The Taoiseach told the House there would be access for all children who need special needs support and that no child would lose all the support he or she needed. The words "access" and "all" are vital here. Children with special needs will have some access but will it be enough? They will probably not lose all their support but will they lose 50% of it? If a child requires 100% of a special needs assistant's attention there is no point in asking that assistant to look after three children at the same time. It will not work. All three children will be left floundering.

The Special Needs Parents Association has had huge problems with how the Government is handling this situation. It is angry at the continued lack of an independent appeals process for special educational needs organisers. Parental involvement in the decision-making process has been poor. Parents have no say in this process. When a child has been assessed there is no obligation on the assessor to report to the parent.

The association's response to the report of the joint committee was interesting. It includes the following:

The allocation of SNA hours should follow clearly stated assessment tools that will allow decisions on the educational needs and care needs of each child to be expressed in terms of actual hours of SNA support needed per day or per week. The Special Needs Parents Association submits that if you are a child with special educational needs and if your capacity to participate in and benefit from education is restricted due to an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or learning disability you need to have a psychological assessment from a recognised psychologist or medical specialist in order to access the required supports.

Referring to the cap on the number of psychologists in the national educational psychological service introduced by the previous Government, the association comments, "If a child cannot get an assessment of needs there would be no requirement on the State to provide the service". The parents of Ireland will not accept this treatment when their children's education and well-being is at stake.

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