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

I thank the Minister. I appreciate his good intentions in this regard. He referred to school places and supports being planned for and being provided but the kernel to this is that these places were not planned for and were not provided. Last January a sticking plaster was applied to the problem. The problem is going to escalate in the area. As of last year, we only had 18 places that were suitable or available for children with special needs who were leaving mainstream primary schools. In this situation another three weeks means it will have been 12 weeks - three months - during which these children were without any type of education. This is completely wrong. The impacts for any child of staying out of education for this length of time can have lasting effects on their progress in school and on learning. This especially applies to children with special educational needs. To be fair, I am aware that the Minister has only been in office for one week but officials in his office had told the parents that alternative accommodation would be in place by 1 November. We are now at 23 October and we have heard nothing about that, and now it is to be pushed back another three weeks.

Last week, a reply to a parliamentary question I tabled stated: "In the meantime, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is continuing to work with the school and the parents to ensure that the appropriate supports are in place, including application for home tuition." No supports whatsoever have been put in place for these six children or their parents. This is absolutely and completely wrong. Home tuition is a poor substitute for children who are used to attending school. It amounts to only a maximum of nine hours per week. From day one, we have said that this was not going to be acceptable. Alternative avenues must be considered to have these children in the classroom to ensure that the impact on their education is minimal. Let this be a lesson going forward to the Department and to the Minister with regard to other situations like this around the country. It is simply not good enough.

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