Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Earlier this week, AsIAm, an autism charity, published its Every Child Counts report, which found that 66% of families surveyed had to wait more than two years to access an appropriate assessment for their child. More than three quarters of those surveyed said they were not in receipt of any support from the HSE's early intervention team, school age team or the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. The last finding I want to mention, which is crucial to this debate, is that 40% of respondents' autistic children had regressed during the Covid-19 pandemic, either in terms of their educational or interpersonal skills. This would suggest to every right-minded person that the claim made by the Minister of State that everything is okay is clearly not true. Things were not okay before the pandemic and they certainly were exacerbated during it. In a post-pandemic situation, we are a long way from where we need to be.

I have noticed a narrative developing that is deeply worrying. It is that the trauma, isolation and regression experienced by many parents and their children with disabilities over the course of the pandemic are no longer an issue. A summer programme does not even come close to being enough to address the harm that has taken place. I have stated repeatedly that a return to the pre-pandemic normal is not good enough. There was a wave of unmet needs before the onset of Covid for people with disabilities and those needs have only grown as a result of the pandemic. We need to have more ambition and stop being bystanders when it comes to advancing the rights of people with disabilities. We are waiting 17 years for the full implementation of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs, EPSEN, Act 2004. That is an extraordinary indictment of this State. What good is it to have a legal requirement that an assessment of needs be provided within three months of receipt of an application if less than 10% of assessments are completed on time? Where are the ambition, the resources and funding to address this issue adequately?

In my role as party spokesperson for education, instead of conversations about enhancements and additional resources for students with disabilities, all I am hearing is that things will be maintained and frozen going into the next academic year. I want to highlight a specific issue in this regard, namely, the provision of SNAs and the exceptional review process. Schools are facing a cliff edge in September in regard to special needs resources. For schools in my constituency, this is a conversation that is ongoing and an issue about which school principals have been contacting me. The Government line is that nothing will be taken away for the 2021-22 school year. One can conclude from this that nothing additional will be given. Is that not correct? In a reply to a parliamentary question I submitted, the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, confirmed that existing mainstream class SNA allocations in schools as at 30 April last will be maintained and will roll over into the next school year. What good is that to the many schools that are set for an increase in the number of students with special needs who require the support or partial support of an SNA? They include students who are transitioning to secondary school, for example, who have had an extraordinarily difficult fifth-class year and a sixth-class year that was completely upturned. However, we are still being told that the basic pre-Covid provision of SNAs, which was inadequate before the pandemic, will be retained and will be adequate for the coming school year. It is farcical.

We are in a dangerous space in this regard. The process of exceptional reviews is not fit for purpose. There is no timeline for the process and secondary schools will not have completed their applications until after September, when the special educational needs organiser visits. Many primary school students with disabilities whose fifth-class and sixth-class years were marked by Covid will not have the resources they need in place for them in September. If I can ask the Minister of State to do one thing, it is to address this issue. Many schools are facing a cliff edge and the trauma for students that was exacerbated throughout the pandemic will be made worse. The gap in educational access and dignity will be widened further in September. If only one action comes out of this debate, let it be that this issue is addressed. What is happening is morally reprehensible and I strongly encourage the Minister of State to address it.

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