Dáil debates

Thursday, 2 June 2022

Higher Education Investment and Costs: Statements

 

1:45 pm

Photo of Pauline TullyPauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am hugely concerned about the worrying shortage of staff within disability services, particularly services for children. The progressing disability services model saw the establishment of 91 children's disability network teams. However, there is a vacancy rate of 28%, on average, across all teams. This amounts to more than 700 vacancies, with some teams having a vacancy rate of 33%. There is a need, in particular, for occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists and psychologists. When I look at the number of students who are undertaking courses in those areas, I am very worried. There are insufficient numbers to meet demand.

According to a recent workforce census of children's disability network teams carried out by the HSE, there is a shortage of 122 occupational therapists. However, according to figures supplied to me by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, there were only 126 students undertaking the relevant course in 2020, which was the most recent year for which figures were available. The situation with speech and language therapy is very similar. It has been identified that there are 117 vacancies within the teams, but only 119 students were undertaking the course in 2020. These figures relate only to the shortages within the 91 children's disability network teams. They do not take into account other areas of healthcare and education, which will be competing with one another to recruit these students when they graduate. Primary care will be looking to recruit students, as will the education sector as we see the roll-out, we hope, of the social inclusion model currently being piloted.

Does the Minister have plans to address these extreme staff shortages? I am sure he, like all of us, is hearing from constituents about the devastating effect the lack of services in the children's disability network teams is having on children with additional needs and their families. There must be a plan to increase drastically the numbers undertaking the relevant courses. Work needs to be done not only with those already in third level but also with those currently in second level education to encourage the take-up of these courses in universities.

According to a head teacher who has worked to create inclusive environments in education and employment for people with disabilities, there were 15,846 students registered with disability support services in the 2019-20 academic year. This represented 6.3% of the total student population. That figure is very low compared with the percentage of people in the State with a disability, which is 13.5%. Ireland has one of the lowest employment rates in the European Union, at 26.2%, for people with disabilities. If we genuinely want to address this, students must be encouraged to pursue further study. The current employment rate, however, does not offer great encouragement.

All reasonable accommodations must be put in place to assist students to participate fully in third level education. There must be flexibility around course times and how courses are delivered in terms of blended and online options. If a student requires additional time to complete a course, that should be facilitated. Lecture content and study materials should always be available in a format that is accessible to all students. Education, including at third level, must incorporate the universal design for learning principles to guide institutions in making education accessible for all and to ensure we have shared educational campuses. Training should be provided to all academic and higher education staff on their legal obligations to students with disabilities. Some students have been made to feel uncomfortable when highlighting their needs and rights in this area.

Advances in technology have had a huge impact on the lives of people with disabilities. As much as possible must be done to ensure students with disabilities in Ireland have access to the vast range of technological solutions that now exist to support them. They should not have to fight for every support they require. Provision for all students, irrespective of need, should be available. We know from numerous and varied research findings that people with a disability are more likely to struggle with financial hardship. Access to the required finances should never be a barrier to such a person accessing his or her right to an education. It is vital that the higher education access route, HEAR, and the disability access route to education, DARE, schemes are adequately funded to support students throughout their academic and social lives in college.

There remains a huge demand for publicly funded diagnostic services for students who cannot avail of disability supports without an official diagnosis but who cannot afford to access private diagnostic services. There must be increased supports for mental health resources in institutions for students who need that support because of disability. It is vital that students with disabilities and their representatives are involved at every step of these conversations.

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