Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, for being present to deal with my question. This is a matter we have spoken about privately on a number of occasions. I acknowledge that she has always been constructive in those discussions and in her deliberations with me. I always appreciate her time.

At the outset, I will acknowledge that there have been a number of improvements in the whole area of special education over the past few years. We have seen record investment in special education. I think that investment now accounts for over 20% of the education budget as a whole, amounting to approximately €2 billion. That needs to be acknowledged. There are also record numbers of special needs assistants, SNAs. I know the Minister got an extra allocation in last year's budget. There have also been efforts made to tackle the pupil-teacher ratio. I acknowledge all those positive steps before I get to the challenges ahead.

I received correspondence from the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, last March. It details comprehensively the issues we are having in Cork city and county, primarily suburban Cork. That correspondence details that at primary school level, all but one primary school, a school in Midleton, were full in terms of autism spectrum disorder, ASD, provision. The same was true for villages such as Berrings, a relatively small village on the western side of Cork city. For Blackrock in the city centre itself, Grenagh, or whatever other village one wants to mention, this correspondence details the same thing, namely, that in the whole issue of special education, the lack of places is quite stark. The figures suggest that schools are operating at capacity.

The picture is similar when we move to second level. The majority of areas such as Glanmire, where I live, Ballyvolane, The Glen, the entirety of the north side of the city and Churchfield are at capacity at second level.

The most important figure provided by the NCSE is that 193 primary schools have ASD provision for students and only 70 are available at post-primary level. Those figures might have changed since then and I know there was an extra allocation last year but the figures paint a stark picture for kids who depart primary school and transition to second level. There is nearly a 3:1 ratio of ASD provision in primary schools compared to secondary schools. An awful lot of parents and children honestly feel as if they are falling off the edge of a cliff in terms of service provision when they make that transition.

The picture painted by the figures available to me is quite stark. Where do we go from here in terms of service provision for Cork? I am aware that the Minister has powers available to her under section 37A of the Education Act and those powers have only been utilised sparingly, and primarily in Dublin, since that legislation came in.

I ask at this stage that the Minister seriously considers, for parts of the city that I represent, particularly Glanmire and the northern side of the city out to Blarney where it is fairly obvious that certain schools are not pulling their weight, enacting those powers. Saving that, I encourage her to legislate for the NCSE to make direct interventions where schools are failing to meet that need.

Before my time finishes, I will highlight one area in particular that is a real bone of contention. It is not an area that I represent but in Ballincollig, there is a considerable deficit in autism spectrum disorder, ASD, provision. Children are travelling from that area, where I believe there is a population of more than 25,000, to outside villages like those I mentioned earlier such as Dripsey, Farran and so on to get the kind of ASD provision their students need. That is a damning indictment of the system as it is currently set up. I believe that we need to consider changing that to where the discretion is taken away from schools and ascertain whether we empower the Minister or the NCSE to make those interventions.

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