Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin will support the motion and I thank Deputy Thomas Byrne for tabling it and Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin who has had much input on this, particularly as chair of the Joint Committee on Education and Skills.

The motion calls on the Government to immediately collect information on the prevalence of children experiencing homelessness who do not have additional supports provided by the Department of Education and Skills and also calls for the establishment of a €5 million initial ring-fenced fund for schools to provide for the needs of children experiencing homelessness. It asks the Government to examine whether the July education programme could be extended to children who have experienced significant disruption to their education as a result of homelessness. The July programme applies to children with autism but at every available opportunity, I like to call for it to be extended to all children with additional needs. Sinn Féin supports its extension to children experiencing homelessness as it will provide them with some pattern and regularity in their lives. Many children living in emergency accommodation will say that school is the one consistent thing on which they can rely.

Sinn Féin agrees that it is outrageous that there is no Government policy to cater for the educational needs of children who are homeless or living in emergency accommodation. Their needs are not mentioned in either the action plan for education or the Department of Education and Skills statement of strategy 2019-2021. We also agree that many children experiencing homelessness do not attend DEIS schools and, therefore, do not have access to the same level of supports provided to students in those schools.

Responding to criticism of its inaction regarding the impacts of homelessness on children’s education, the Department of Education and Skills has stated that a range of resources are available to "support schools in dealing with identified additional educational needs, including needs which may arise for children who are experiencing homelessness". It has stated that this includes NEPS, which works through a problem solving and solution-oriented consultative approach in order to support schools to meet the needs of individual pupils. The Department also stated:

DEIS also provides additional supports to schools from disadvantaged communities. Schools use these additional resources to meet the identified needs of their pupil cohort, including the additional needs that may arise for pupils experiencing homelessness.

This is not good enough. We all know the reality of hardships struggles and challenges that children are currently facing and the Government has no co-ordinated strategy to tackle this. Meanwhile, with each day that passes, a child’s quality of education is being impacted upon.

Children living in temporary accommodation have to travel great distances just to arrive at school. The impact that this has, particularly on small, young children or if it goes on for a long period, is obvious. They are exhausted before the day even starts. We are damaging children’s futures by taking away their chances at a decent education.

Almost 4,000 children and young people in Ireland are homeless and living in emergency accommodation. Neither the Department of Education and Skills nor the State Examination Commission know how many children who are homeless will be sitting State exams this summer. This is because, in the main, candidates are entered for the junior cycle and leaving certificate examinations by their schools and the State Examination Commission has no information on the their residential status. No one is formally tracking these children and there is no specialised policy on their education needs in school. Despite the provisions the Department of Education and Skills indicates that it has in place, many teachers still feel under pressure and ill-equipped to support homeless students.

The overwhelming majority of homeless families and children are either living in family hubs or rooms in commercial hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation. In many cases, indeed probably in most cases, these hotels would have no cooking or cleaning facilities or suitable areas in which to study. Some of the hubs have study rooms or places which are suitable for that, but not all do and there are none in any of the commercial hotels. Students who are homeless may end up with significantly lower exam results than usual as a result of their accommodation situation.

Transportation is a major issue, particularly in rural areas. In Kilkenny, for example, there is one main hotel which provides emergency accommodation. It is located in Kilkenny city, which makes it difficult for those who live outside the city. It can also influence whether children are able to attend school at all. There are many issues which we need to tackle.

A survey carried out by the Irish Primary Principals Network found that the top three challenges for children who are either homeless or living in direct provision are anxiety, family issues and neglect. Homeless students face issues ranging from a lack of confidence, bullying, being singled out and losing friends as a result of their circumstances. These issues coincide with the stress students are under when it comes to exam preparations.

Aside from providing teachers with better resources and wraparound support to assist homeless students, it seems a vital aspect of helping those who are undertaking exams is providing them with suitable study spaces and accommodation.

Over the past two years, the Government has begun to move away from hotel accommodation towards the family hub model. However, we cannot normalise homelessness through the use of these hubs. We only need to look at direct provision and how that temporary solution has evolved. Schools must be able to draw on additional financial supports to provide for the needs of students experiencing homelessness such as school books, uniforms and transport and schools must be able to provide meals, homework clubs and supervised study for these students.

The Minister touched on the school completion programme, which is one of the best programmes that we have. It obviously needs to be expanded and resourced better. The programme had its budgets cut during the recessionary years and it has never had that restored. The work that they do for the small money that they get is incredible. Rather than cutting back on that programme, the Minister needs to expand it. I always think there is an argument for that programme going back into the Department of Education and Skills rather than being under the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.

While we support this important motion, we do not want a situation where we normalise homelessness. Obviously, the crucial solution to all of this is to provide people with homes, long-term housing solutions and rent security, and building more local authority housing and providing more options for first-time buyers. I merely make the point that we obviously need supports for people, particularly students who are homeless, but we do not want to get into a situation where we are nearly talking about it as if it is a normal phenomenon. Sinn Féin supports the motion.

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