Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus leis an Aire Oideachais agus Scileanna. I will try to give the Minister plenty of time to respond. I want to pay tribute to his work. All the Departments are learning on their feet here and it is important to acknowledge the work that is being done.

It is also important to outline the origins of the July provision for the House. In 1993, Marie O’Donoghue, the mother of Paul from Cork, challenged the Irish State and the Department of Education on the right of her son to an education. They won their case and from this flowed the right to July provision for children with autism and other complex learning disabilities. The Government has an obligation to provide support for these students with special educational needs and this is the purpose of the July provision.

On 5 June the Minister announced changes to the July provision scheme. These changes will completely change the purpose of the scheme and have caused confusion and distress to children and their families. He announced a primarily school-based scheme. On the Department's website it states that it is intended to be similar to July provision with a home-based strand, a school-based strand, and a health-led strand. This, in addition to contradictory briefings given to various voluntary organisations, has led to this confusion. In the school-based strand, as the Minister is aware, many schools do not have special classes in their schools for a variety of reasons, including a desire to immerse all children completely in the school community.

More than 400 schools are currently availing of the summer works scheme for renovations. Many have reported that they will have difficulty in staffing special classes. Many of the mainstream schools with special classes have never run July provision education due to the lack of staffing numbers. Will the Minister outline what consultation has taken place with schools; the budgets that have been agreed with schools for personal protective equipment, PPE, and daily sanitising; and the guidelines that have been offered to schools for the cleaning and sanitising of classrooms, the implementation of social distancing and the cleaning and sanitising of therapeutic equipment and multisensory rooms?

On the health-led strand, some 15,000 special needs assistants work in Irish schools. Will the Minister indicate how many of these public service workers have been redeployed to work with Tusla on a temporary basis to fill the health-led strand of this initiative? What other measures are envisaged under this strand?

The home-based strand, which must be provided by qualified teachers, has also been announced. Will the Minister confirm that the home-based July provision will continue for each child with autism and complex learning challenges who requires it? Perhaps the Minister will also outline what guidelines have been developed for the provision of such home-based services.

The terms of the July provision have been altered from their original purpose to meet different needs this summer. The programme was exclusively designed for the education of children with autism and other learning disabilities who benefit from an extended school year as per the Supreme Court judgment in 1997. The Department has extended the programme this year to focus on students and young people with complex needs, as well as those children with behavioural, social, emotional and sensory difficulties. The Minister also has stated children with Down's syndrome will be included. From speaking with SNAs, I anticipate that demand will far exceed supply. Some schools will not open for the July provision and there will be a struggle to find tutors. How does the Department hope to match demand with the number of schools that will open and with the necessary complement of SNAs and tutors for the summer programme?

My second question on SNAs has already been addressed by Deputy Murnane O'Connor.

With the summer holidays approaching, has the Department liaised with schools in the State with regard to additional requirements under the summer works programme? Apart from the fact that this is the best time for schools to carry out such works, it also represents a boost for local building contractors at a time they need it most. It should also be used as an opportunity for schools to refit buildings to accommodate social distancing and optimise the best use of the school buildings and playgrounds for reopening in August. Are additional resources available within the summer works programme to help schools adapt to social distancing and hygiene requirements?

Public health advice has changed recently to allow for the running of outdoor summer camps. Will the Minister now allow primary schools and teachers to welcome back sixth-class students in a socially distant and compliant manner before the end of the school year? I ask this while aware of the isolation and feelings of loss experienced by this cohort of children who are facing the transition to secondary school having had such an important step in that transition robbed from them by the pandemic. This follows on from a question submitted previously by my colleague, Deputy Catherine Martin.

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