Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise with the Minister the issue of children with severe to profound intellectual disabilities who attend Rosedale School. The children in question have lost everything. They have nothing. Their worlds have shrunk. One mother described to me how her daughter’s world has shrunk to a bubble in her head. While I welcome the announcement by the Minister, parents have told me that children with severe to profound intellectual disabilities deserve better. Currently, there is no appropriate education plan in place for these children. Children with these needs are the only ones who do not have such a plan at the moment, which is, as far as their parents are concerned, discrimination once again.

Parents have described Rosedale School as their lifeline. It is their children's world. It provides their children with so much happiness. All of the children's needs are incorporated into the education plan within the school setting. Parents are deeply concerned about the effect this closure and the previous closure have had on their children. The children of Rosedale had been out of school and have had their critical specialised services withheld. The reality of this is no education, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, psychological support, friends, hope or light at the end of the tunnel.

These children have no comprehension of what is happening and their parents have no way of explaining it to them. The children have no way of putting their frustration across. This frustration stems directly from confusion, uncertainty and change in routine. I raised the issue of these children with the Minister's predecessor in June. I stated that the parents were deeply concerned that if a second wave hit Ireland, these schools would be closed again. I asked whether the service could be reclassified as an essential service in light of the fact that the children's needs are more complex and their conditions are far more profound than those of children in other schools.

The parents’ greatest fear became a reality last week when they were told that their children's school would not reopen. We cannot allow this situation to happen again. They deserve better. These children understand routine and boundaries. Learning is painstaking and arduous work for them. It has to be consistent and include repetition every single day. Rosedale parents' association needs clarity on whether the school will reopen and what its opening hours will be.

There is clearly a knowledge gap about what people perceive the daily lives of a child with a severe to profound disability to be and what the lived experience actually is. For that reason, I will outline a description of the daily reality and let it be on the Dáil record.

One mother told me how, before the first school closure, her son, who has autism and a severe to profound intellectual disability, had learned to regulate himself very well. His levels of aggression had significantly decreased. He was starting to interact with his brother more. The incidence of his sobbing bouts had decreased dramatically. Since the closure, each of these achievements has been the subject of a massive step backwards. His levels of aggression have significantly increased. He is vibrating to the point of shaking trying to regulate himself, to the point where he cannot sit with people for more than five to ten seconds. His mother described this as being like an electric current running through his body because his levels of anxiety are out of control. He is no longer interacting with his brother. He finds it hard to be in a room with the family for any length of time. His nanny, who is 65 years of age and without whom this mother would be unable to work, is his childminder. If he cannot hurt either of them, he hurts himself using walls or any surface he can find. His sobbing bouts have increased dramatically, which is the most heartbreaking part. He cannot tolerate his mother being in the room or giving him a hug to comfort him. He sobs in his room while his mother sobs outside the door.

This is the reality for the families of children with severe and profound learning difficulties. I ask the Minister to meet with the parents' association of Rosedale and hear their lived experiences, and ensure that these children are never left behind again. I ask the Minister to clarify whether Rosedale School will reopen next Thursday, the number of hours for which it will be open and if she is willing to meet with the parents' association.

See this speech in context