Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an díospóireacht anseo. Tá a fhios agam gur chuir teaghlaigh fríd an Stát fáilte mhór roimh athoscailt na scoileanna. Ag an am céanna, bhí imní ar go leor daoine.

The families who were worried were those facing into a school year where their child might be without much-needed special needs supports in the classroom. That is the issue on which I will focus in my contribution.

I recently asked the Minister of State's Department to provide me with the numbers for exceptional review applications in respect of special needs assistance that were submitted by schools in my county of Donegal this year. The National Council for Special Education provided me with those numbers last week and they confirmed exactly what I have been hearing from teachers, parents and principals in schools throughout the county. Half of the applications were successful and the other half were either rejected or have not been processed or determined at this time. One third of applications which have been decided were unsuccessful. In other words, in the case of one in three of these exceptional review applications, the children in question are in school at this point in time without the supports their parents, school and board of management feel are necessary. In respect of one quarter of applications, it was decided that school visits were required to assess the child's needs. I have spoken to two previous Ministers for Education and Skills about the cruelty involved in how this process unfolds for those children. Parents are told that on-site inspections will take place some time at the end of September or in October to see if their child is failing in his or her environment and only then will SNA support be provided, with all of the hoops still to go through in regard to the acquisition of an SNA who is suitable for the post, Garda clearance and all the rest.

The idea that we would set children up to fail in this way is simply unbelievable. I have personal experience of this and have, as I said, relayed my concerns to the current Minister's predecessors. It is an area in which change is needed urgently. What is happening under the current system is that we are letting children suffer and waiting to see whether they can swim before throwing them a life jacket. Once they are assessed, it is anyone's guess as to when they will be given SNA support if they are deemed to need it. Many of these inspections find that the child does indeed need SNA support. There has to be a better way of dealing with this issue because what is happening at the moment is back to front. We must provide for the needs we are being told have been identified and then assess those needs as the child progresses through the school year. I have been contacted by a number of SNAs in Donegal this year who do not have a job to go to and are sitting at home. At the same time, there are children in desperate need of support in the classroom.

We need effective action in this area. I welcome the Minister of State's appointment and I hope there is real focus in it. In the past, we have had Ministers appointed whose remit is rural Ireland but the reality is that the situation in rural areas is much worse now than it ever was. We need real and urgent action in regard to special needs provision in our schools and we must ensure that provision is centred on the child. I challenge to the Minister of State to deal with the issue of how the need for an SNA is assessed and how assistance is delivered. It is not acceptable that parents could be waiting until October before there is a recognition that their child is failing in a classroom environment and before he or she is allocated the supports that were needed and deserved in the first place.

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