Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Down Syndrome (Equality of Access) Bill 2013 which would give recognition to Down's syndrome as a "low incidence disorder" and in doing so would ensure that adequate provision was made for resource teaching hours to be allocated to pupils with Down's syndrome. I congratulate my colleague, Deputy Finian McGrath, for bringing forward this Bill which has brought about much discussion and awareness of the issue.

I also acknowledge and welcome that the Government has allowed this Bill to proceed to Committee Stage. This Bill is vital to ensuring that when recognising this condition as a "low incidence disorder", meaning disorders that automatically qualify for resource teaching hours, that quality educational provision is provided for these children in mainstream schools.

As a member of the All Party Group for Supports in Mainstream School for Children with Down's syndrome, I am committed to this issue and from speaking to concerned parents in Donegal on a regular basis, I understand the implications of not having Down's syndrome recognised as a low-incidence disorder and the urgent need for these children to receive resource teaching hours so that their specific educational needs may be addressed. Currently for Down's syndrome children with mild learning disabilities, special needs teaching comes from set hours that each school must share out to all pupils with less severe learning difficulties. This causes many complications, as was noted by the report from the Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan, last May when she criticised the Department's response to previous complaints about the policy.

I have been working on this issue for some time and have pressed the Minister and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, on this issue many times. Time after time I was informed that, as highlighted in the NCSE report on supporting children with special educational needs in schools, children should be allocated additional resources in line with their level of need, rather than by disability category. This effectively means that Down's syndrome should not be recognised as a low-incidence disorder. Instead, the report recommends that under the new resource allocation model proposed by the NCSE in its report, children should be allocated additional resources in line with their level of need, rather than by disability category. In fact, a senior figure from the NCSE contacted me directly only last October and stated:

We could find no evidence to suggest that children with Down syndrome, with mild general learning disability, should be treated differently to other children with mild general learning disability who also have additional difficulties. Rather, our research strongly suggests that resource allocation should not be linked to category of disability but rather should be based on the needs of children.

Only in December, the Minister informed me that the NCSE had established a working group to develop a proposal for a new tailored allocation model in line with this approach. Then completely out of the blue, we hear that the Minister and Cabinet have decided to do a complete U-turn with a spokesperson for the Minister being quoted as saying that they have allowed the Bill to go the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection and are "adopting this approach in the context of work the National Council for Special Education is doing to find a new model of allocating resources to schools in relation to special educational needs." Call me sceptical but I have to question what motivated this decision and how it suddenly fits right into the work of the NCSE.

Do not get me wrong, I welcome the idea of a tailored model based on the needs of children and recognise that all children, including children with Down's syndrome, have varying levels of educational needs and that children with Down's syndrome need more attention than others. In many ways, I welcome the direction that has been taken in this regard. What I have had problems with is the children who are left in the dark while this new approach was being devised as it certainly will not happen overnight. That is why I have supported Down's syndrome being recognised as a low-incidence disorder.

The Minister says an exception should not be made for Down's syndrome but it has been made for other disabilities. Down's syndrome is more low incidence than autism, for example, while autism is recognised as a low-incidence disorder, which is quite nonsensical. Nonetheless, parents across the country with Down's syndrome children have been asked to wait and be patient while the new model is being devised during which time their children fall further and further behind. I reiterate that while I welcome the move to accept this Bill, I would like an honest explanation for the change of heart because it seems like a ploy to keep us all quiet and the Bill will then be forgotten. Perhaps there are more cynical reasons for it. Down Syndrome Ireland, Deputy Finian McGrath and I and so many others have worked so hard on this issue so I would like to hear what will happen next and when and how it will fit in with the new tailored model.

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