Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

On 27 June this year Scoil Mochua, a special school on the Old Nangor Road in Clondalkin, Dublin 22, was informed by its special educational needs organiser that it would lose two teaching staff in the upcoming school year. This is one example but it could apply to other special schools throughout the country, including St. Joseph's Special School in my constituency. Scoil Mochua was subsequently informed that it would lose one teacher from the start of August. Given that the school expects to have between 52 and 54 pupils enrolled in the coming academic year, this cut will reduce its pupil-teacher ratio below a level acceptable to meet the particular needs of the children in the school.

The pupils attending Scoil Mochua are in the main severely or very severely physically disabled. They have multiple disabilities and little or no independent function. In many cases they are non-verbal. In reply to a parliamentary question yesterday the Department maintained that the basis of the cut in teaching numbers in Scoil Mochua was that in the view of the National Council for Special Education the school "has an appropriate level of teaching staff to cater for all of the children enrolled in the school from September". However, the principal of Scoil Mochua believes that the NCSE has difficulty recognising the significance of the complex disabilities that affect the majority of the pupils at the school. On this basis she strongly believes that the pupil-teacher ratio is wrong and will have a detrimental impact on the children's education. This view is strongly shared by the parents of children attending the school.

Will the Minister reverse this damaging cut to this school and other schools that cater for pupils with some of the highest levels of educational need in our society? I call on the Minister to review - I am using that awful term again - the category of "physical disability" used by the NCSE to take account of the needs of severely physically disabled children, to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio accordingly, and to review the category of "multiple disability" to include physical disability and other associated or additional disabilities. This category should include severe communication difficulties, including an inability to communicate verbally, and limitations in independent function, especially with regard to hand function and personal care activities. I have no doubt that if the Minister were to seriously undertake this review he would conclude that the current criteria used to determine the pupil-teacher ratio at schools such as Scoil Mochua in Clondalkin are inadequate.

We are discussing the most vulnerable people in the education system. They did not cause the economic crisis or the crisis in the banks. In the majority of cases their parents were not the cause of these either. These parents would go to the ends of the earth to try to get the best for their children. The Minister will be aware of the sacrifices such parents have made over the years to try to get an education for their children. They want to give their children a chance. They maintain that one extra teacher, extra hours or extra support will make all the difference. Given the multiple layers of disability experienced by its students, the school is asking for a review to be initiated by the Minister to examine this area and establish whether flexibility can be shown in the system in the case of such children.

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