Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is aware of the work at Rosedale School and he has visited it. It is a wonderful school that provides amazing services for young people throughout Galway city and county. Public representatives who have visited there with be familiar with it. I visited several months ago with Deputy Kyne. We toured the school and saw the amazing work people are doing under difficult circumstances.

The number of pupils in Rosedale School this year has increased to 26 from 20. This has put additional pressure on resources and facilities. As many of the children get older, their demands increase. There is an increased demand for what are called changing benches. These are used for children who spend the majority of their time in wheelchairs. They give the children a break from the confines of the wheelchair and allow them to stretch their arms and legs and be comfortable. They are also used to change children. The children in question cannot walk, talk, feed themselves or go to the toilet. The wonderful staff in this school must do that work. They need extra beds to be able to perform the simple function of taking children out of their wheelchairs and changing them.

Some of these children can require changing four or five times a day, which can take up to 15 minutes each time and requires two people. This issue pertains to people with severe to profound difficulties, both physical and intellectual, and the help they require.

In September 2013, Rosedale special school applied for funding for five additional beds to accommodate the school's additional needs on foot of the difficulties some of its students were facing and because of its new intake of five additional pupils. However, the school still has not received an answer from the Department. Initially, its application was refused and the school appealed. It has gone back to the Department but the staff members are at the end of their tether. It is appalling that this has happened to people who have been doing such incredible work in such difficult circumstances. A constituent of the Minister of State spent an hour and a half travelling on a bus from Gort to Rosedale special school. He was in pain because the bus journey is very difficult and confining and can cause distress. When he reached school, he could not be taken from his chair for quite some time because no spare bed on to which to bring him was available. Despite this, the back-and-forth nonsense continues, to the effect that this is not something that will be provided or that the Department should provide. The school authorities actually have been asked to change the name of the bed they require. While it is exactly the same bed, they have been asked to change the name in order that it sounds more educational. This is unacceptable and must be fixed. Last Friday, the school had in place a queueing system. People were obliged to queue in order that the children could be changed and this must stop.

The Minister of State should return to the Department and tell whoever is dealing with this fracas, this absolute nonsense of a process, this bureaucratic nightmare through which these children must suffer, to get this issue fixed. The Minister of State should tell those responsible that the school requires €10,000, in the overall scheme of things. It also is scandalous that €30,000 already has been spent by the Department to put in place the hoist that is necessary to lift the children out of the wheelchair to put them on the bed. Although the hoist is in place, there are no beds and although the hoist has been paid for, the Department will not pay for the beds. This must stop and while the Minister of State's intentions and motivations in this regard will be just as positive as are mine, he should return to the Department and get whoever is causing this nightmare and nonsense to fix it and solve this problem for these kids.

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