Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak and compliment my colleague, Deputy Charlie McConalogue, for tabling the motion. Despite all the denials over the weekend that there was a cut and a reversal of services, we welcome the decision on a full reversal of what was announced last week.

As we move forward, there will still be a cut to the number of special needs assistants in the classrooms from September. From where I stand, I sense a lack of understanding by the Minister of what has been achieved by special needs assistants and resource teachers in classrooms in the past 14 or 15 years. When I first came into this House in 1997, special needs assistants were community employment workers and the Department later employed them. The benefits garnered for society and families in the way special needs have been met in classrooms during the years have been second to none.

There was a lack of understanding in the decision made last week to cut the number of resource hours. It is the greatest wish of every parent with a child with special needs that he or she be integrated fully into the classroom and that the resources and supports be made available in order that he or she can benefit from mainstream education. Not everybody would be able for mainstream education, but there is always a hope and an expectation that children can be mainstreamed. The benefits children get from being in mainstream schools with the proper supports cannot be questioned, nor can the benefits to society as a whole.

During the years many projects have been developed such as the CABAS project in Cork city. I know children of friends who went there to avail of early intervention and came back into primary schools with the proper supports such as special needs assistants and resource teachers and they have gone on through the education system and come out the other end in a far better position than would have been possible without these supports. There has to be an acknowledgment by the Minister and the Department of the part played by these initiatives in the past 14 or 15 years. Any Government that would try to cut back on them, see it as possible to cut them or decide that they are beyond the requirements of a State-sponsored education system does not understand the benefits that have accrued from them.

Last weekend parents and school authorities were very concerned about this issue. Parents of children who are one, two or three years into the system and who have had a diagnosis and are progressing extremely satisfactorily through the education system had to spend last weekend concerned about the future. Depending on the age of the children involved, these parents have in recent years made accommodations in their own lives in order to make sure the proper services are available for their children. I have some experience of dealing with the services that provide care for children with special needs from the cradle to the grave. Among the vast majority of parents I have met during the years there is concern about how these children will develop into adulthood and how well they will be able to integrate into society.

Between 2004 and 2007 I chaired the education committee which prepared a report on special needs assistants and resource teaching hours. The point that continuously came from the parents, teachers and the education sector was that early intervention was the way forward and that the success of early intervention could not be overestimated. Last week's decision by the Minister and the Government showed a lack of appreciation of what had been achieved during the years. This is akin to the position on free education in that children who have need for a special resource have the same constitutional rights as anybody else. During the years there was much talk about the disability Bill and its funding, but there has been a lack of understanding of what has been achieved.

Before I came into the Dáil Chamber, a teacher telephoned me about her child who had special needs. She has fought the system on the issue of domiciliary care and experienced all of the difficulties that flow from this. One can criticise and throw anything one likes across the floor of the House at Fianna Fáil, but my party has done an immense amount of work in the past 15 or 16 years for people with disabilities and education services for people with special needs. People have benefited through the education system and come out the other end with the leaving certificate, something they would not have been able to do this 15 or 20 years ago. They have benefited enormously from the amount of money and resources put into this service.

I must again make the point that what was done last week showed absolutely no understanding of what had been achieved. More importantly, however, it showed no understanding of what it meant to children with special needs who needed these resource hours and to their parents. My biggest worry is that there is still a cut in regard to special needs assistants, yet there is no answer on this issue from the Minister. Whatever decisions have to be made - we all accept difficult decisions must be made in other aspects of education - the most vulnerable must be protected.

Those who have been going through the system in the past 15 years, who perhaps have learning difficulties or need extra support with social skills within the school spectrum, have benefited hugely from resource teaching and the fact that the position of special needs assistants were placed on a statutory footing. The announcement today, with the doughnutting of the Minister and the talk of how he had reflected on this issue, showed a complete lack of understanding of what it meant for people to have these facilities within mainstream schools. Across the developed world, best practice has been for people to be integrated into their own schools and for them go on to achieve most. What was proposed last week was a backward step and what is still on the cards is also a backward step. I appeal to the Minister, whatever decisions have to be made in the area of education, to ensure every single resource hour that can be made available is made available and that every hour for special needs assistants remains within the education services. This will pay huge dividends, not alone for the children and their families involved, but also for society as a whole.

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