Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Bhí an tAire ceart nuair a dúirt sí go mba chóir go mbeadh na scoileanna seo oscailte. Aontaím léi go huile is go hiomlán. Is mór an náire í, áfach, agus is scannal é go bhfuil na gasúir seo sáite i lár cogaidh cumarsáide atá nimhneach idir an Aire Stáit agus an Aire agus na ceardchumainn. Ní féidir glacadh leis sin.

I agree totally with the Minister when she said that these special schools should be open, I fully support her on that, but the manner in which this has been handled is shocking and unacceptable. From day one, children with special needs were never prioritised. She knows that because we were playing catch-up. NPHET did not prioritise them and neither did the Department. I would fault the Government and NPHET for not prioritising schools. Special schools should have been declared as an essential service. That did not happen, nor did it happen with nursing homes. The Minister has been playing catch-up. For example, the July provision was rolled out, and I welcome the Minister's work on that, but parents are still waiting for payment six months later. They had no transport, they provided transport themselves, travelled great miles to get to the July provision and they are still waiting to be repaid.

To set these children, and we are only talking about 18,000, in the middle of a war between the Department and the unions that is absolutely poisonous is unacceptable. We need special schools to be declared as an essential service. We need to recognise the serious concerns of the teachers and special needs assistants in a manner conducive to a solution, not to furthering the stream of poison. The Minister will have my support if she does that. Let us declare special schools an essential service, let us see what steps are needed as a matter of urgency to roll out that educational service, and let us be honest about our utter failure to provide physiotherapy, psychological assistance, and occupational therapy, as has already been mentioned.

Scannal agus náire atá anseo agus ní mór dúinn dul i ngleic leis an bhfadhb agus leis an dúshlán seo le chéile agus réiteach a fháil chomh sciobtha agus is féidir linn.

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