John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the opportunity to have a few brief moments to speak on this very important topic. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, is the body charged with looking after the special educational needs of children. It operates under the special education review committee, SERC, report of 1993. That guideline is 26 years old and in dire need of updating to meet modern day requirements and standards. The criteria set out in the report call for a 6:1 pupil-teacher ratio and two special needs assistants. This is hugely outdated. The profile of students has changed and many students have profound medical and intellectual needs.

There is no standardisation of nursing supports for special schools. They operate on an ad hocbasis for each individual school. For example, the Nano Nagle school in Listowel fought a three-year campaign to have a permanent nurse to assist children with profound medical needs. There is a lot of work to be done. Most schools are underfunded and require fundraising to allow them to operate on a day-to-day basis. We need to get ourselves up to modern day standards, update the SERC report and have the NCSE deliver on it immediately.

See this speech in context