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

In 2018, Ireland ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. I will cite part of two articles of the convention.

The first, Article 7, states:

Parties shall take all necessary measures to ensure the full enjoyment by children with disabilities of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with other children. In all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.

Article 24, which relates specifically to education, states that the parties "recognize the right of persons with disabilities to education" and "shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels". The article, which continues in great detail, also states the parties will ensure that persons with disabilities "can access an inclusive, quality and free primary education and secondary education on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they live" and will "receive the support required, within the general education system, to facilitate their effective education".

This is not happening currently. Children with additional learning needs are not treated equally to other children. We have hundreds of children either without a school placement or in an inappropriate school placement. Children are not being educated in the communities in which they live. Many are travelling up to 40 km from their homes to access a supposedly suitable school placement. We have children in our schools on reduced timetables because they have been placed in an unsuitable school setting or insufficient resources have been provided to make the placement work. Furthermore, we hear of children suspended or expelled for the same reason. Students in special settings account for only 4% of primary school places but account for 6% of primary school expulsions. It is inconceivable that any child would be expelled from primary school. The reason some of these children are being expelled, however, is that the State has let them down and has failed to provide an appropriate school place. This is totally unfair.

The Minister is letting these children down and denying them their basic rights. Children are being home-schooled, not because it is their choice but because they had no other option. Over 1,400 families were supported by the home tuition grant scheme in the 2020-21 school year. How many of these families had no choice but to apply for this grant?

This Government made a commitment in the programme for Government to ensure that every child with additional educational needs would have an appropriate school place, yet here we are again facing into a new school year with countless children without an appropriate school placement. The Department of Education and the NCSE have data on precisely how many school places are required for children with additional needs.

There was no excuse for children progressing from primary to secondary school as the number in special classes in schools is known, yet there are insufficient suitable places for children to attend secondary schools in their locality.

The proposal to establish special education centres has shown how out of touch the Government is with what is appropriate and what should be deemed to be inclusive. It smacks of locking children away in residential centres out of sight and out of mind. We need emergency action to deal with the crisis looming in two months. The cumbersome method of enforcing a section 37A process has to be streamlined in some way so that it can be processed much faster.

From September onwards, planning for September 2023 must start in earnest, after which a proper long-term plan for a fully inclusive education must be put in place immediately for the years thereafter.

The parents who have contacted me are very upset that their children are not receiving the education they require. Children are self-harming. I am hearing of children banging their heads off the wall or the ground. Some are suicidal and are lashing out at parents and siblings. This is born out of frustration that their needs are not being met and is not fair for the child. Every child deserves a chance to reach its potential and to be happy and safe in its everyday life. If a child needs are not being met, the child and his or her family are affected.

I am aware of schools being opened to address a deficit in certain areas but, due to a lack of planning, the school is not working for the children. This is down to a lack of properly trained staff who do not know how to deal with autistic children or do not know the purpose of a sensory room, for example.

Additional school places need to be provided in every locality to cater for the needs of the children from that locality. Children should be in a position to attend their local school with their siblings. There needs to be a move away from segregation to inclusion, with proper planning and resourcing.

I ask that the NCSE and the Department of Education commit to gathering and publishing data quarterly on inappropriate school placements and children attending school outside their locality. We also need to know how many children are on reduced timetables, how many have been suspended or expelled and how many are dependent on the home tuition grant funding because the school placement was inappropriate or lacked the proper resources.

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