Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I mean no offence to the Minister of State in pointing out that I submitted this matter with a view to having the Minister for Education and Skills come before the House to discuss it. His failure to do so highlights the need for Dáil reform.

As Deputy Donnelly pointed out, support hours for children with special educational needs are about to be cut again, this time by 10%. With an additional 4,100 children who need resources about to start school, the Government has indicated it will not fund the additional resources they require and will instead maintain spending on special educational needs at current levels. This decision will mean that a child who would have received five hours' support from a special needs assistant in 2010 will receive only 3 hours and 45 minutes of SNA support from next September onwards.

This savage, sickening and unacceptable cut has been condemned across the board, including by the INTO, the joint managerial body which represents secondary schools and Down Syndrome Ireland. It is being made at a time when backbench Deputies are recommending giving children with Down's syndrome access to special needs assistants. The Minister must announce in the next day or two that he intends to reverse the cut. This must not be done at the expense of other services, as occurred when maintenance grants were cut to fund the cost of reversing cuts to DEIS schools. The Government must provide the additional moneys required to fund special needs education for children.

At Stewarts hospital, resources will not be provided for children moving into adult services because the HSE refuses to fund education for 18 year olds. This is another case of people being refused the support they need. The authorities are aware that the young people in question have been in the system for the past 18 years, yet they are refusing to provide sufficient resources to allow them to move into adult services. The position is disgraceful.

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