Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I will make three points in the three minutes remaining. I welcome the debate. Special needs support for children, whether learning support, speech and language therapy or special needs assistants, has come a long way. We must put this matter in context. We have come a long way from the time when children were left behind, put in a corner and not understood. I say this as someone whose mother was a remedial teacher for two primary schools in Rathdrum, County Wicklow 30 years ago. These schools consisted of 400 pupils, which indicates the level of special needs education available to those children at the time. Ten years ago, we had 3,000 SNAs in the system and we now have 10,500. Was 3,000 enough? Probably not. Has the percentage of children requiring SNAs increased at the same rate as the number of SNAs in the system? Probably not, there was probably a point where we reached equilibrium but it has been manipulated since. There are enough SNAs in the system for every child under the criteria. Are they being allocated correctly to those children? Maybe not.

My second point concerns a proper appeals system. Currently, if a child is assessed and it is determined that the child does not need an SNA, the decision is appealed to someone who is in the same office as the person who made the initial decision. It is not the same person but they usually share the same office. That is not fair to the person who makes the decision, the child or the parents. We must set up an independent appeals mechanism that is inexpensive and transparent and offers some level of comfort. Inevitably, the fate of some children is decided in this manner, which is not correct. There are subjective opinions from time to time and others may not see the wood for the trees.

With 450,000 people unemployed, is there a role for people in the classroom and the school other than as an SNA and a teacher? This can give some value to jobseeker's benefit and a person can learn a skill and be of assistance. It can be called work welfare and it is worth discussing. I do not accept that there is not a role. Community employment schemes engaged people outside the classroom and there may be roles for people in the classroom.

There are enough SNAs under the cap to provide SNA support for every child in the system. Deputy Clare Daly can wag her head all she likes but the facts remain. If she does not accept that, she is trying to muddy what has been put forward as logical and sensible debate.

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