Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday the National Council for Special Education announced a cut of 10% in support hours for children with special needs. This brings the total in cuts per child to 25% since 2010. The INTO has argued that the cuts are even worse than this figure suggests because the Department of Education and Skills and the council are hiding the true extent of cuts from parents. The needs of these children have not decreased by 25%. Some time ago, when we were trying to reverse the cuts to special needs assistants, I met a parent in Leinster House who told me that an official from whom she was trying to get support asked her if the child was still autistic.

In County Wicklow, nearly 400 hours will be cut at primary and post-primary level. The figures on the level of need in County Wicklow are not available.

We know that need is growing by 10% per annum nationally, and I have no reason to believe the position is different in County Wicklow.

I know as well as any Deputy that money is tight. However, public money is being put to a variety of uses. For example, hundreds of millions of euro have been used to meet the cost of pay increments in the public sector over the same period and the Health Service Executive is buying drugs at several times the price being paid by the British National Health Service. It is not acceptable to force children with special needs to pay for the sins of politicians and bankers. I call on the Government, specifically the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, to immediately announce that the budget will be scaled up to ensure resource hours are not cut.

See this speech in context