Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I had the opportunity last week at the meeting of the education committee to wish the Minister well in his new position. I reaffirm that now. In fact, on the Saturday the Minister was appointed I was driving to the conference of the National Parents Council, at which I was due to speak, and when I heard the news I pulled in and sent him an email to wish him well and to raise the situation I will outline here.

It is an absolute disgrace in this day and age that six children with special needs are being denied their constitutional right to education in their home town. I will put the children's names on the record. They are Kelly Semple, Josh O'Shea, James Tiernan, Latoyah Bowers, Jason Moran and Jack Reilly. These children received an excellent education in a special autism spectrum disorder, ASD, unit in Scoil Na Naomh Uilig in Newbridge. Some 18 months ago when we collectively discussed the next steps in this regard it suddenly dawned on the Department of Education and Skills that no provision had been made at the next level for when these children would leave the ASD unit. There were many conversations, meetings, telephone calls and emails. In fact, I brought the parents to an education committee meeting which was dealing with the area of special educational needs in order that they could have an understanding of how we deal with these issues.

Nine weeks after 1 September, when the children were told they would have a place in St. Conleth's Community College, Newbridge, they have not had an hour or a day of education. If the shoe were on the other foot and the children were not going to school, the State and the Department would bring their parents to court for non-attendance at school.

The delays in opening the extension of the St. Conleth’s community college and the delay in opening the autistic spectrum, ASD, unit are directly impacting on the education of the children who are waiting and on their families. They are not the school's fault. All children, including children with special educational needs, have a right to an education that is appropriate to their needs. Education should be about enabling all children, in line with their abilities, to live full and independent lives so that they can contribute to their communities, co-operate with other people and continue to learn throughout their lives.

These six children, however, are yet to start their school year, despite commitments that were made in January 2018. At a meeting in January, the parents were told by a principal officer of the Department of Education and Skills who is in charge of special education provision, and by the head of operations for the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, that if there was a delay, alternative accommodation would be in place by 1 September. This has not happened. It is an absolute disgrace. The parents feel very let down by the system, which I can understand. The system was meant to support and nurture their children. I am aware that this morning the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board, KWETB, lodged an application with Kildare County Council to open part of the ground floor extension. This, however, can take up to another three weeks, which leaves us well into November. It is completely unacceptable that these children are still waiting to start school. They still have no date on which they can start school, there is still no alternative accommodation put in place and there is no home tuition in place. That commitment was fully given in January in respect of the six children.

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